Lahaina Harbor

Born on August 21, 1955, John Cosby is a Southern California–based plein air painter known for his bold, expressive brushwork and vivid depictions of landscapes, figures, and marine scenes. His work captures the spirit of place in locations ranging from Laguna Beach and Taos, New Mexico, to the islands of Hawaii, reflecting a deep connection to the natural world and the people within it. “While standing on location in a place I have never visited, I begin to recognize what is different about it from all the other places I have been. I try to capture that, the uniqueness,” says Cosby. Raised in the American West, Cosby began drawing and painting at an early age. He credits his grandmother, an oil painter, as a formative influence on his artistic journey. “She would give me the paint, some brushes, and a scrap of canvas and set me off to paint,” Cosby recalls. “This early experience took the fear out of creating a painting.” Her encouragement helped instill in him a lasting confidence and passion for artistic expression. John Cosby began traveling the world at an early age. At eighteen, he was selected to serve as an advance man for the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government, working under two Presidents. His global travels exposed him to many of the world’s great artistic masterpieces, further fueling his creative ambition. “They haunted me and helped set the course for my career as a painter,” Cosby recalls. Upon returning to California, Cosby worked in commercial illustration and design, creating visual work for clients such as In-N-Out Burger. Though he found success in the commercial art world, his heart remained in fine art. The call of the sea and the coastal landscape ultimately drew him back to painting. With strong gallery support, his transition into fine art was met with quick and continued success. Today, Cosby resides and maintains an active studio in San Clemente, California. He continues to paint on location around the world and is represented by several leading galleries. A founding board member of the prestigious Laguna Plein Air Painters Association, Cosby is also a Signature Member of both the California Art Club and Plein-Air Painters of America. He has served in leadership roles within these organizations, contributing to the advancement of the plein air movement. Additionally, he co-founded the Laguna Beach Plein Air Painting Invitational, first held at the Laguna Art Museum and now in its 25th year. With his bold, contemporary style, Cosby has captured the imagination of collectors worldwide. His work is included in numerous private, public, and corporate collections, and he is recognized internationally for his contributions to American representational painting.

Decorating with fine art prints — whether they’re figurative prints, abstract prints or another variety — has always been a practical way of bringing a space to life as well as bringing works by an artist you love into your home.

Pursued in the 1960s and ’70s, largely by Pop artists drawn to its associations with mass production, advertising, packaging and seriality, as well as those challenging the primacy of the Abstract Expressionist brushstroke, printmaking was embraced in the 1980s by painters and conceptual artists ranging from David Salle and Elizabeth Murray to Adrian Piper and Sherrie Levine.

Printmaking is the transfer of an image from one surface to another. An artist takes a material like stone, metal, wood or wax, carves, incises, draws or otherwise marks it with an image, inks or paints it and then transfers the image to a piece of paper or other material.

Fine art prints are frequently confused with their more commercial counterparts. After all, our closest connection to the printed image is through mass-produced newspapers, magazines and books, and many people don’t realize that even though prints are editions, they start with an original image created by an artist with the intent of reproducing it in a small batch. Fine art prints are created in strictly limited editions — 20 or 30 or maybe 50 — and are always based on an image created specifically to be made into an edition.

Many people think of revered Dutch artist Rembrandt as a painter but may not know that he was a printmaker as well. His prints have been preserved in time along with the work of other celebrated printmakers such as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Andy Warhol. These fine art prints are still highly sought after by collectors.

“It’s another tool in the artist’s toolbox, just like painting or sculpture or anything else that an artist uses in the service of mark making or expressing him- or herself,” says International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA) vice president Betsy Senior, of New York’s Betsy Senior Fine Art, Inc.

Because artist’s editions tend to be more affordable and available than his or her unique works, they’re more accessible and can be a great opportunity to bring a variety of colors, textures and shapes into a space.

For tight corners, select small fine art prints as opposed to the oversized bold piece you’ll hang as a focal point in the dining area. But be careful not to choose something that is too big for your space. And feel free to lean into it if need be — not every work needs picture-hanging hooks. Leaning a larger fine art print against the wall behind a bookcase can add a stylish installation-type dynamic to your living room. (Read more about how to arrange wall art here.)

Find fine art prints for sale on 1stDibs today.