Staso / Gray Print

It started out as an extra image for my Lakefill 2011 series, a photo to add context to the project and capture the essence of a complex place. It's part of the Artist's Statement that's included in the complete portfolio, but isn't one of the 8x10" prints that are available singly.

Long after Lakefill 2011 was complete "Staso/Gray" continued to be a favourite, so it was time to put it on paper and let it stand on its own.

The finished print has an image area of 14 x 7" on 19 x 13" 'ultra premium luster' paper. It's signed with the print edition information on the bottom of the page. This first run consists of six prints, and they are priced at $150.

Due to its unusual size, I have no plans to make "Staso/Gray" available through any print-on-demand services.


Comments, questions, thoughts? You can find me on Twitter or via e-mail.

Lakefill 2011 Prints

Begun sixty years ago as a simple breakwater to protect Toronto’s Outer Harbour, the Leslie Street Spit has grown into an elaborate peninsula five kilometers long. Largely reclaimed by nature, the Spit now includes almost five square kilometers of cottonwoods, wetlands, and meadows, and is managed as one of the largest wildlife habitats in the city.

The Spit’s southern shoreline remains an active dumpsite for demolition and excavation rubble. It’s a changing landscape of construction debris: concrete poles and slabs build the headlands, tangles of weathered rebar, stone, and brick form the beaches. While they were once the buildings and structure of the city, this lakefill now creates the land itself.

Shaped and broken by machines and by the elements, very little is more humble than these bricks and scraps. Presented here without the surrounding context, they invite examination for their own character and qualities. Resolutely mute, each one still speaks to its past life and stands as a part of the history of Toronto.

Matthew Piers Robertson

June 2012

Lakefill 2011 is complete.

The project includes eighteen images that were taken in place on the Leslie Street Spit during August and September of 2011. Conceived as a set from the very beginning, I'm pleased to offer these as complete portfolios, including the photograph and artists' statement above, as well as as individual prints. The image area is sized for an 8x10" matt on 8.5x11" paper, and given the white field, there is some flexibility in its presentation.

As I have mentioned previously, I do not produce "Limited Edition" prints. Instead I create artist-signed photographs in small print runs. The quantity of each run and the price for those prints is fixed. When those have sold out I may print an additional run, but the price will be fifty percent higher with each edition.

The full portfolio of eighteen images, plus the title page and artists' statement page with the photo above, is priced at $600. Two sets are available in this print edition. As these images are meant to be seen unframed, they are printed on Premium Glossy paper.

The single prints are intended for framing and are printed on Premium Luster paper. The first print edition is in sets of three, and each is available for $40.

Each image is also available directly from a print-on-demand lab. These can be ordered via the gallery, and while I have every confidence in their quality, these are not images that I have inspected or approved. Printed on 8x10" paper, these unsigned and non-editioned photographs are offered at $25 each.


Comments, questions, thoughts? You can find me on Twitter or via e-mail.

A Note on Prints

Limited edition photographs are a fiction.

I don't mean that in the sense that all photographs are an imposition of the photographer's will on reality, I mean that there is nothing inherently scarce about something that is mechanically reproduced, and any limits on supply – at least durning the artists lifetime – are contrived.

I do not, and will not, produce "Limited Edition" prints.

I create artist-signed photographs in small print runs. The quantity of each run will be stated at the beginning, and the price for those prints is fixed. When that run of prints has sold out, I may then offer an additional run, but the price will be approximately fifty percent higher with each edition. This way my photographs remain accessible, popular prints go up in value for those who collect them, and I'm able to incorporate improvements in the process in a way that's fair to both current and future owners.

I do also offer photographs through print-on-demand services. These prints are not produced under my control, and I neither inspect nor sign them, so they are offered on an ongoing basis at a lower price. Finally, from time to time there may even be "special editions" that I print and sell under different conditions, but as exceptions these will always be distinct from my print edition photographs in some way.


Comments, questions, thoughts? You can find me on Twitter or via e-mail.