Sublimation = Art ?

I was at Roland's facilities a few years back training on my printer. They had a really nice showroom, in it they had a dye sublimated standup sink on top of tiles, looked really snazzy.

The main issue with dye sublimation though is the ink is not very UV friendly, so its ability to withstand the test of time (decades) is probably questionable. Also "fine art" can be questionable when you're using an ink that transforms into a gas, I've never looked at sublimation through a microscope, but I imagine it becomes more shotgun'ish/blurred at that level, and artists are very picky about that kind of thing!

That being said, it is a very unique decorating method, and the more equipment you have, the more unique you can get with it. We occasionally custom route shapes from the sheet stock to use in displays and such. I've been tempted to try some of the DIY sprays to do full color wood plaques, and such, but I've never read anything good about them.

Sublimation onto aluminum has recently become very popular for photography prints and ceramic tile murals have given dye sub a high-value image for some time now.

I think this is true, with the caveats about durability that have already been mentioned.

One area that I think could work really well as far as making artistic works with sublimation is tile murals. We've made a couple of tables that we use for trade shows and they turned out really well. I could see the same sort of thing being done as a mural for a wall, or a backsplash or tile in a shower.

I believe there are also coatings that can be put on tiles that will make them more durable, so that might help with the longevity or the work.