Framing for a show...

So I have been asked to participate in two upcoming art exhibits so I've been busy preparing some prints. I am now mounting them in frames with nice mats and I must confess that they look pretty darn nice. Like many of you I expect, I shoot because I like shooting, but I rarely bother printng and framing...

My question is about signing prints and so on. A walk past a gallery window a while back wasn't much help... Some folks simply sign the print. Others, sign the mat. Others sign the mat, and have a little "title" also on the mat...

It seems to me that the signature should be on the actual print... shouldn't it?

And a "title" perhaps on the mat, centred.

I'm just wondering if there is some "convention" out there as to the proper way to do this.

As pressing an issue as this is, I'd appreciate your words of wisdom!

Thanks~

I think that for most prints at shows that I have seen, there is a cert of authenticity on the back of the print, and often a label attached to the framing. Some local Los Angeles galleries have little embossed foil signatures that they attach to the print but to me that is a way to make a print look cheap. If you do sign on the front, a small signature in pencil will be appropriate. If they are of a numbered edition then do the x of y thing, also in pencil.

Bill

For whatever it's worth, I agree with bvanant. With the photo exhibits I've seen it appears that the 'standard' style is to sign the matte in pencil with numbering for limited editions if you are doing that. But in my opinion, a title seems a bit pretentious for a photograph. To my mind, a title implies that the artist had a statement to make, and created the art to fit it. The genesis of photographs is usually the opposite. I guess I liken titles to nicknames: (if I may borrow from Jim Rome) It's bad form to "self-gloss."

Of course all of this is just my opinion.

Randall

Sorry for the slow reply gents, but I appreciate your comments. I actually found myself in the artsy-fartsy part of Toronto a couple of days after I posted here, so went in to a couple of shops selling prints... and yup, you're spot on!

My only problem at the moment is that I have b*ggered my shoulder, resulting in a pinched nerve and numb arm. If I try to sign my name now, it will look like I'm about 6! I have a few more weeks to get ready though.

Thanks for your input!