Our house has a lot of bare walls. I think that we don't know how to decorate. One thing that we've thought we could do is get some art to hang around. As it turns out, art is hard.
Recently Abby's elementary school held a student art exhibition. They've been creating art all year based on classical works. One of the artists they were emulating was Piet Mondrian. I knew of Mondrian from his strange paintings of primary-colored straight lines and boxes, but I did not know of anything else he had painted. When I saw his "Grey Tree" exemplar among the 2nd-grade recreations, I was struck by it in a way that I had not thought about art before.
Of course, I can't hang that painting in my house, and it seems kind of absurd to get a poster reproduction of the thing to hang in my livingroom over the fireplace. So apart from Abby's faithful reproductions of classical art, what can I put on display in the house?
Some days after the art show, we stopped at the mall to look in some of the art shops for some decorations. The Chester County Art Association has some kind of workshop set up in the two-unit place that Victoria's Secret moved out of. They not only host classes in there, but also sell some of the artists paintings.
Unfortunately, on the day we visited, the store was closed. We looked through the barred store gates at some of the art inside. In the doorway were these people-sized people cutouts of wood with barcode-like black and white bars painted on their entire surface. A whole group of them. This is certainly not the kind of thing I would want to have as a showpiece in my home. Thankfully, they were labeled, "NFS" (Not For Sale). I wondered idly what the artist would do with them when people got bored of the "we are all barcodes" message.
Afterwards, we trekked to the other corner of the mall, where there is a Deck the Halls store. This store sells prints that you can have framed. I'll summarize with: This store blows.
I guess if you're a college student and you want so posters of beer and classic pinup posters to frame for your dorm, this is the place to go. If you're into that pop art like Michael Parkes' Gargoyles, then this is the place to go. But I simply can't see myself hanging that sort of thing in my house.
I guess I don't know what I'm looking for and I expect to know it when I see it. The problem is that I haven't seen anything yet, and I'm not exactly sure where to look.
I've been in a few people's homes who have art on the walls, and it just feels right. I want my living space to feel that way, too. I've had enough of these bare walls.
Oh, I am the same way. I've had bare walls for... ever. People tell me to put photos up but I don't want to look at those staged studio-posed photos every day and my informal, candid photos are not good.
And I've had the same thoughts about poster shops or whatever. So I've learned to stop seeing the walls.
Owen, if you guys can make it into the city this weekend, you should check out InLiquid's Art for the Cash Poor. It's a whole bunch of art from local artists, and nothing costs more than $199. http://www.inliquid.com/features/AFTCP8/aftcp8new.htm
Diana, I can't just give up like that. I know that if I take 2000 photos every time I go out, then at least one will work to hang on the wall. And if I keep looking for art, I'm sure I'll find something I like. I want my home to feel more cozy, and the photos/paintings that do it aren't going to just sprout from the wall.
In fact, that's one of the first things I noticed about Marisa's place - She's got a nice collection of art on her walls that fits the style of her place. So I know it can be done.
And if she did it by going to events like Art for the Cash Poor, then I should seriously consider checking that out this weekend. Thanks, Marisa!
I came looking for plugin information, and found my own passion! How ironic.
As an artist, I strongly encourage you to purchase original art from a self representing artist. You won't pay insane gallery prices, but you will be supporting someone who has the talent but lacks the gallery representation.
There are a lot of places you can find it online, you could google custom artwork (well, I'd hopefully be in the top 10 of those search results) but better yet, surf ebay's self-representing artist category. Or artbyus.com, or even etsy.com. We have a few places where we do well selling our artwork and getting noticed - go there and browse, you won't be disappointed, and there's enough available that you'll find exactly the style you're looking for.
If you're thinking of something in particular, let me know - perhaps I can point you to an artist who has the same style. :)
A house without any artwork is a house that is empty...on a spiritual level. Maybe that is a bit of a harsh judgment, but art is life. Bare walls and wallpaper are just like the veils that are used to hide many of humanities flaws.
I know I use wallpaper to hide my flaws all the time. (?)
Do you actually want this painting? Cause I could make a reproduction of that in about 2 hours. If so, let me know.