This is one of a continuing
series of articles on discovering, buying, commissioning, and
displaying art. If you would like to see more articles click
on this link:
WSG Articles
Hanging Art – Without A Machine
Gun
Ahhhh, the feeling of
finding the perfect painting or print. You’ve searched hard and finally
found the Promised
Land – a gallery/artist that makes the exact 2-D work that you have always
wanted. Not just an orphan (one work)
but several that you could own. After serious deliberation, you finally
settle on one artwork, promising yourself to come back for more
later.
Now, you’ve arrived
home with your purchase and found that the perfect artwork is upsetting the
whole Zen of the room that you planned to show it off in. What to do?
You could either call in an interior decorator or take a
chance and do it your self.
Hiring Out
If you “hire out” as a
friend calls it, interior decorators or designers are a useful and wonderful
person to have on
tap. They are knowledgeable about a wide range of fabrics, materials,
furniture and how to arrange them. They
are usually licensed and are very good at what they do. It comes with a
good price tag but after the ID is done
with the room or rooms – they can
look very finished; almost to the point of an airport lounge. The reason is
that
many
ID’s work for corporations that want a vaguely comfortable or inoffensive
place to do business.
Homes are different.
They are an expression of your personality. Many people want a designer or
brand name
house with all the furnishings. That’s nice, but after you are
done all you have is a house that looks like countless others in the same
neighborhood. If you wanted that, you would not have shopped at several
galleries to get that unique, wonderful piece of art that you now want to
display.
Doing it yourself
Now to the
scary/wonderful part. You get to introduce the new 2-d art to its new
walls. If the painting/print is happy where you hang it all well and fine.
If not that is still fine.
First take all the
other hanging art down. Place the new art on each of the four walls until
you find the “just right”
place. After that start reintroducing the former occupants (paintings &
prints) into the room. Group them together
in a square, a diamond, or a diagonal going up the wall – lots of different
ways. It will add interest to the room. Use the adhesive/removable wall
hooks, you can find at Lowes or Home Depot, so that you can reposition the
art on
the walls until it just says I’m Done!
Consider leaving one
wall blank – with no paintings or prints. You can even hang two parallel
horizontal lines of
prints or paintings; mixing different sizes and shapes judiciously. Just
hold back from mixing different art styles together. It can look haphazard.
Try mightily to avoid the “machine gun” effect. This is the need to put
all same
sized prints and paintings on the same level on all four walls. Makes a
room look boring and predictable – once again a reflection of the owner.
The polar opposite of
the “machine gun” approach is the manner paintings were hung in museums in
the 1860’s
and 1870’s. Every inch of wall space needed to be covered with a painting.
With 12’ to 20’ tall ceilings the effect
was a tsunami of different sizes,
styles, and colors art. A total bedlam of art that was difficult to
understand or comprehend.
You can easily come up with a happy medium between the “machine gun” effect
and a tsunami of color and style.
The final result is that with a little time and thought you can have a
beautiful art collection displayed and have enhanced a latent skill that you
never knew you had. One more way to make your home totally yours and not
a “brand name” home in a brand name neighborhood.
