There is a moment that happens when someone stands in front of an original artwork for the first time.
Not online. Not on a screen. Not reproduced in a catalogue.
In person.
They lean in. They notice the texture. The edges. The areas where paint was pushed, scraped back, layered, or left alone. They begin to see decisions rather than simply an image.
That moment is difficult to replicate with a print.
As an artist, I'm often asked whether someone should invest in an original artwork or purchase a print. The honest answer is that both have their place. Prints make art more accessible, allowing people to enjoy imagery they connect with at a lower price point. They can introduce colour, personality, and visual interest into a space.
But an original artwork offers something fundamentally different.
An original carries evidence of its making.
Every mark exists because someone physically placed it there. Every layer reveals a decision, a hesitation, a correction, or an unexpected discovery. What you're looking at is not the reproduction of an idea. It's the idea itself.
The older I become, the more I appreciate this distinction.
We live in a world increasingly dominated by replication. The same images are shared endlessly across screens. Furniture is reproduced. Designs are imitated. Algorithms serve us versions of what has already proven popular.
Original art moves in the opposite direction.
Its value is not derived from perfection. It comes from uniqueness.
There will never be another version of that exact painting.
Not because it cannot be copied, but because the circumstances that created it can never be repeated. The studio environment, the mood, the sequence of decisions, the mistakes and corrections, the passage of time during its creation. Even the artist themselves is different from one day to the next.
For me, painting has always been a conversation between structure and intuition. My background in industrial design naturally pushes me towards systems, geometry, and order. The artwork emerges when those systems begin to loosen, allowing instinct to take over. What remains on the canvas is a record of that tension.
Collectors often tell me that the artwork they purchased from my original abstract art collection continues to reveal new details. A colour relationship they never noticed. A texture only visible in changing light. A balance within the composition that wasn't immediately apparent.
A print generally remains the same experience each time you see it.
An original artwork tends to evolve alongside you.
This is perhaps why original art holds a different place within a home. It becomes part of the story of the space. It reflects the personality of the people who chose it. It marks a moment in time and carries that memory forward.
When thoughtfully selected, original artwork becomes more than decoration.
It becomes a companion.
The question, then, is not whether original art is better than prints.
The real question is what role you want art to play in your life.
If it's simply filling a wall, a print may be enough.
If it's creating a connection, telling a story, and bringing something genuinely irreplaceable into your environment, an original artwork offers something that no reproduction ever can.
And perhaps that is what makes it valuable.
Not its rarity.
Its humanity.
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Whether you're sourcing a statement piece for your home, commissioning artwork for a new project, or seeking a creative collaboration, Studio Jacobson works closely with collectors, homeowners, architects, and interior designers to create original abstract artworks that are distinctive, personal, and designed to last.
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