You can't always get what you want...

I'm always telling people to get/invest in/go for art that means something to them, whether it's a story or if it relates to some experience. Most of the art in my own home is like that, and it doesn't have to be expensive, precious, or fancy--in some cases I've just enlarged some text from a book, page number and all.

I recently gave in to the hype and emails from Art.com and gave them a try. I mean, it looks pretty cool, right?

Art.com also has kiosks in major museums like the MOMA and the DeYoung, where you can order prints of pieces from the museums' collections. I recently saw a piece called Caius Marius Amid The Ruins of Carthage by John Vanderlyn (1807) at the DeYoung and thought it was really cool.

I ordered a print and had it framed in a really contemporary bright white modern frame--I thought it would look really bright and masculine in my home office. But when the piece arrived, the print was really dull and smudgy.

Here's the print I received:

 

 And here's a shot of the original painting from my iPhone:

 

 

The quality of the print is obviously not so good. At the DeYoung, Caius looked like one damn fine Roman. My Art.com print made him look like a caveman. 

 

For those who ever wonder, a giclee print is basically a fancy inkjet print. Art.com has different levels of quality for the prints you can purchase, but I'm afraid that even if I had paid for the most expensive print, there would still be fuzziness and quality issues.

The good thing about Art.com is their return policy. I'm going to have to test it firsthand and let you know how it goes....

Stay tuned, folks!