Friday, October 22, 2010

From the Art Files

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ots more rooms with cool art!


My art room folder is getting pretty full. I've said it many times before but you don't always have to spend a lot of money to get some of these looks. (though to be fair, some of them might be expensive) If you decide to splurge on some art work here's why you should feel good about that choice:

1. Buying something that is beautiful and lasting isn't really a frivolous use of money.

2. Art can be an excellent investment. It almost NEVER depreciates.

3. You're helping employ someone (or more than one someone) who works in the creative arts as a living - that can never be a bad thing.

4. The fact that it can make you happy EVERY day is hard to put a number on. I can honestly tell you all my art work makes me happy every day. I can't say that about very many things!

Enjoy:


We can safely assume this is a reproduction/copy of Thiebaud since I happen to know the original is in the Art Institute of Chicago, I love Thiebaud. It is my opinion that any room would look better with one of his prints contained therein. (and reproductions can be had for as little as $10 online!...whereas an original Thiebaud went at auction for 1.7 million dollars this year)



No idea who this artist is, but isn't it great with the white bed and the throw? Sometimes you just need something like this to really give the room an energy.


I love these shelved works. Bold and colorful in an otherwise quietly white and neutral room, they make it.


Something similar is happening here. The styles of furniture are a mix of contemporary and classic lines, the curtains are very old world, and then the art is bold and gorgeous, it makes the whole room sing. What a mistake it would be to do sedate florals in the art work or something.


sometimes you can collect a lot of cool little prints and put them all together like this to create an interesting collage of art. I know people who save letterpress cards and put them together in this way. It's an awesome idea.


I love this. You probably couldn't copy this style as easily as you think you can, but you could give it a shot.

I like these simplistic rooms and lines with a somewhat rude or even angry and bold art work. It creates this nice tension that makes things much more interesting.


These are Marimekko prints and then they've used FREE paint chips on the bottom.


Okay most of us can't afford to own a real Frida Kahlo...I'm willing to bet this is a print as well. Did I ever tell you about the time we almost bought a Deigo Rivera pencil sketch?? We almost did. It was cheaper than you might think, but more expensive than I would normally ever consider paying for a pencil sketch. In the end, I realized I was more enamored of the idea that it was a Diego Rivera sketch than I was with the sketch itself, and decided that's not a good reason to buy something. You should really love it first.


I'm not 100% sure if this is a photographic print or something else, but I dig it with that bowl of globes. Have you noticed how suddenly popular globes and maps are?


These are mosaic tiles that the owner decided to collage together into a bed frame, which also looks a lot like a painting. I think it's a great idea.


Okay these may be tempera or acrylic, but what's cool here is this is something that could be fairly easily copied. Also you could create a very similar effect with paper. Great idea.


Another neutral room where the art makes it sing.



Ditto here...I'm so bored by the room I need a nap, but that painting makes me not hate it at all.


It's not always possible, but occasionally, with some coaxing and assistance, you can get kids to create things sort like this that may have a similar effect on your room if framed. (do not think you will get something this good...it's not going to happen...but it can still be cool)


I don't know how they did they dresser exactly, but I do know it's a DIY project and for that reason I adore it. Print above it makes it super cool.


A WALL of art is an excellent idea. All the white backgrounds here make this really work.


I sometimes love these pin-up girls as art.


Again neutral with a pop of pow.


Noticing a trend? Again here.


I may have shown this room before. But if I did, it's because I'm obsessed with those stencil heads on the wall as art. LOVE that.


Back of the bathroom door. So fab.


Beautiful painting...love it.


I did something super similar to this in college. (doesn't every teen girl?) I had a wall of things I'd ripped out of fashion magazines and pasted up in a similar style. This can look really good. And obviously it's super cheap.



Some people don't want a giant naked girl on their wall. If you don't, I suppose that's your problem. But it's an awesome piece of art isn't it?


I'm not sure if I can explain to you how incredibly pleasing to the eye I find this simple painting. J'adore.


Now we're talking REALLY large scale art work here. But murals, if you can find someone to do one for you, do not have to be kitschy at all, they can be super cool like this.


Old advertisements can look really good too.

Again, I'm going to assume this isn't a real Wyeth. Lovely though.

This oversized photograph is great.


Isn't the mood of this room swell? Don't you feel like you could effectively write poetry here?


Possibly one of the only floral prints I've seen in a while which I like. And I admit, I may be influenced by that couple embracing down by the pool, maybe in some sort of subliminal way, but I'm still going to call this a success anyway.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Can this outfit be a room?

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an this outfit be a room? (or what your taste in fashion might mean to your home decor)

One of my favorite features in the old (now defunct) Domino Magazine was "Can this Outfit be a Room"...they would take someone's personal style statement and then create decor around it. I miss Domino so much for many reasons, but that feature is one of the things I really miss.

Every once in a while I run across a fashion photo on the internet that I really like. For whatever reason - maybe the colors or even the photography, the styling, there's an art to fashion which I appreciate. I think it's one of the reasons I'm so hooked on project runway - so much of what they do is so artistic and creative. And being creative under pressure has to be incredibly difficult. (I also adore Tim Gunn and want to adopt him and have him live at my house...but that's a different topic)

Anyway...I will save these photos but for no apparent reason really. And then today I thought maybe I should start a new feature on the blog where I try to find a room which resembles the fashion statement. It's not exactly the same as being able to create the room myself - but I did realize that some of the same things I'm drawn to in fashion often draw me into a room as well.

So to start off:

(ignore the fact that she's getting her tights and shoes all wet...one must suffer for art...)


Rooms that embody the spirit of the fashion:


Like the fashion it does seem that we've thrown caution to the wind here doesn't it? I love the pairings of the pink/red and blue. Pinks, Oranges, blues and a menagerie of colors and styles that make this kitchy and cool.
A smidge more demure than the fashion might suggest, but all the great color combinations.
Love the lines of that counter, and the color!

The thing I love about this is that you can use the idea to decorate. Some people are much more sure of their personal style and the things that they like in clothing, than they are of decor. But if you know you're a JCrew girl, a Gap girl, or an Hermes lover, why not use the things you love about a certain style to help you decide your decor? It's a whole new way to look at design!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Art and Artists to Love Right Now

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rtists to love right now...


Kahinde Wiley's art is something I first saw while looking through a decor magazine. While I was looking at photos of someone's cool house I noticed this super amazing painting in the dining room that just was so awesome, but the article did not give the artists name. Later I saw his work in Juxtapose and knew it was the same artist. Finally I was able to see a piece in person when the Contemporary Forum donated a painting by Wiley to the Phoenix Art Museum for their 50th anniversary. I LOVE the painting at the Phoenix Art Museum. It's this piece:



In person these works are amazing because Wiley paints in super realist mode which is near perfection. So perfect is the rendering that it almost goes into a phase of hyper-realism. The colors are always vibrant and crazy. The size is usually over-size, and larger than life. His works often reference old master paintings, taking on renaissance styling and modeling that is similar to old portrait sittings. Anyone who has spent time in an art museum looking at the old masters knows that there are two themes - religious iconography and paintings of well to do people of the day. Wiley takes these two ideas and turns them on their head. Then, using the backgrounds of richly textured prints reminiscent of crazy wallpapers or ornate styling, the result are stunning and impactful images of street kids styled in the way you might have seen Louis XIV. Wiley often employs models found directly on the streets of Harlem, or anywhere young black men with strong features and urban style can easily be found. Enjoy:

Aren't they great? With all the classic themes of life and death and immortality, I love this artist.

I've been missing Holden a lot lately and his favorite artist is Shepherd Fairey. Fairey is famous for his Obama image which was used extensively during the presidential campaign. Fairey started as a street artist (though he is classically trained at the Rhode Island School of Design). His sticker campaign "OBEY" using images of Andre the Giant, was, and still is, quite a famous campaign among street artists. Holden loves street art and the ideas of stencil and sticker campaigns. When we visited the National Gallery in DC in 2009 he desperately wanted a huge book of Fairey's work. In retrospect, in spite of the $50 price tag, I wish I would have bought it for him. Holden also loves Warhol, and Fairey definitely takes some cues from Andy W. He plays with powerful imagery born of iconography and popular culture and turns it on it's end. He also often employs illustrative elements which remind a person of communist imagery. The powerful red and black icons of soviet propaganda, done tongue in cheek, while retaining the bold hyperbole of force. Shepherd explores serious ideas while maintaining and underlying sense of humor. Since Holden has been in Bulgaria and exposed to a lot of old soviet imagery, he says he has a lot of new ideas for t-shirt designs when he gets back which he hopes to utilize (holden had a little t shirt business before he left, he came up with all of his own designs and did some of his own silk screening). I would imagine that Fairey has been an inspiration for Holden where he looks for ways to combine those worlds. Here are a few of my favorite Fairey works:



Wouldn't life be boring without art and artists?

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