Hang em high, low or eye level!
Recently, I was going through a vintage Veranda issue Mar 2008.
The first few pictures feature the apartment where art is the focus of everything and furnishings take the back drop in the overall feel of the space. A two level home served as a blank canvas where the artwork would be showcased and focused throughout the home. Now I agree this is a instance where not everyone is integrated within the realm of art in a daily fashion. The resident is a curator and steward in the art world.
Have a peek into her world, works of art are to be seen and enjoyed, not put on the highest shelf or even viewed from behind a locked glass case. Which makes me wonder about the way we view art. As I turned the pages, the interior was a clean neutral palatte, but I could see the beauty in the furnishings as well. The mix of colors, light vs color injections, and lovely antique pieces paired with sleek contemporary art pieces. The trio of women, 2-dimensional as well as 3 - dimensional, making a lovely vignette. The iron campaign bed, to me is a work of art.
Then, I turned the page and the accompanying story a Pied- A- Terre in Upper Manhattan seemed to be the same type of logic but portrayed so very differently. Here, also in the same issue this maisonette is an early 20th century home which creates the intimacy of a small dwelling with a full service white - glove apartment home. The details of moulding, a sunken living area, and private garden were speaking a need of a continental revial of the home. It was here the primary focus was to be the bones of the home, it was this way of introducing the home itself to the viewer and then enhance the bones with the art. I can see the exact opposite here, where art takes on the form of accessories.Juxtaposition is the key here, Louis XVI is paired with Han dynasty porcelains. Laquered boxes set on top of glass sleek coffee tables, alongside contemporary artwork and centuries old antiques.
Yet both spaces feel thought out and flow. I think the key is a twist on the ordinary, letting a bit of yourself infuse into your home. A story is being told, and a piece of yourself is on display. So much more interesting than just a room full of stuff, that someone has placed for a nondiscript room where everything was purchased and filled into another space.It is the collection or the interest that makes a house a home. The scale can be small to grand, but the interesting part is the personal combining of the space.
I think in seeing the similarities in the two spaces, the exact opposite focus on how art is used and put on display one must draw a conclusion about art. Art is such a personal decision, and the form and matter that it is displayed depends upon lifestyle, need and desire to incorporate art for the sake of art.
To put a piece of art in your home or even to hang it on the wall or add a piece to your desk, you are putting a piece of yourself out there. Something in the artform draws you in, takes you to another level of appreciation and for that, art is so unique and personal.
I think priceless artwork is just as full of emotion as a flea market or an estate sale find.
Take a chance, or leap of faith where art is concerned; beauty is in the eye of the beholder and the essence of a piece is an emotional one, a connection that affects the viewer each time he or she passes by and lays eyes on the piece.
Images from Veranda Mar 2008 issue
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