As you probably are already aware great paintings and art work does not come cheaply. In fact paintings and other art work by certain artists are sold for millions dollars. While the work of other artists is sold for only a few hundred dollars. Even the smallest piece of work of art can cost you upwards of $300 at the same time. Consequently, those who invest in art expect more from their purchase and rightfully so.
There are certainly lucky art collectors. Those who have been fortunate enough to collect excellent pieces of art over the years. Some artists paintings they’ve collected in the past are worth much more than they originally paid for the piece. There are always cases in which a collector purchases the work of an unknown artist only to have the artist become famous. This leaves the collector holding the work of a famous artist and gives him all the financial gains that come along with being in such a position.
If you love art there is no reason you too could not shop for art and paintings and expect that the piece of artwork you bought will fetch you a price worth a lot more than your purchase price. Collectors are in the business of investing in art work after careful examination.
Examining artwork does not mean that it should merely be attractive to your naked eyes. Excellence in art is determined by the smoothness and finish of the work. Excellence is also measured by the choice of subject and how well the subject has been expressed. As history has shown a piece of art may have only one or two colored strokes but these simple strokes being able to reflect what the artists was thinking makes the work valuable. Determining this value is the essence of art collecting.
Examination includes checking the condition and authenticity of the pieces. Of course if you are going to purchase any piece of art you must receive assurance and certification that the piece is authentic. Uniqueness should also be of some concern as a bulk product may not be of any use to you as a collector considering that others possess a similar piece. This is one of the considerations that greatly enhances the value of a piece of art. The most treasured pieces of art in the world are those that are unique and authentic works by a famous artist.
Most art collectors and investors also give careful consideration detailing in the piece of art. So to be sure it is necessary to have an eye for art. To be a successful investor you should be able to determine a good piece and a not so good piece of art if it comes from the same artist.
By: Clyde Lee Dennis
Archive for October, 2009
Investing In Art
October 30th, 2009Using Art Prints with a Minimalist Home Decor
October 29th, 2009
Most decorators traditionally recommend a minimalist décor
for many spaces, particularly small spaces such as apartments and guest
houses. Unfortunately, many people
believe that this means that the walls should be kept completely bare for a
minimalist décor to work. Aren’t pictures too flashy for a minimalist
décor?
Art
Prints: Perfect Complement to a Minimalist Decor
In a word: no, pictures are not too flashy to use with a
minimalist décor. In a few more words: art prints
are not too flashy for a minimalist décor, as long as you select your prints
carefully. In fact, in rooms with minimalist decor, art
prints
add character and highlight the fact that the decor really is minimalist and not
just neglected.
The trick with choosing art
prints
carefully is just to pick one print, or pick a few prints
on a highly related subject or in a similar style, preferably all by the same
artist. In a room with minimalist décor, the prints
will easily get more attention than anything else in the room, so you want to be
careful that the prints
do not conflict with each other. An obvious example: if you really like
Monet’s paintings of water
lilies, you could get several prints
each of a different Monet
painting of water
lilies.
There is a special concern if your décor is not just
minimalist but strikingly modernist (for instance, lots of simple furniture with
clear angles or curves rather than carved woodwork). In a room with a
particularly modernist décor, prints
that are from an earlier era might seem out of place. Go with prints
that were created more or less in the era in which your furniture was designed,
or in which your furniture’s design was most popular.
Obviously, there is a lot of room for personal judgment as to
what goes with what, since modernist anything always was designed not to look as
though it belonged to a particular period of time. It can be even more
confusing if your modernist-looking furniture was really just designed to look
spare in a general way rather than to hark to a particular school of
design. In those cases, just try to go for something that looks like it
matches, sticking to prints
of artworks that are modern but that are not immediately recognizable as
belonging to a specific decade.
If your furniture leans toward the 1950s and 60s style of
modernism (the kind of playful curves that would be at home in a room with a
sunburst clock on the wall), try prints
of the work of a period artist such as Jackson Pollack. If your décor’s
modernism leans toward the seventies or eighties (e.g., glass-topped coffee
tables and very spare design, you might be better off with Jasper Johns than
Jackson Pollack.
Choosing Art
Prints
for Rooms with Multiple Colors
Minimal does not necessarily mean subdued. Just look at the vibrant paintings of modern artist Mondrian, such as “Broadway Boogie Woogie”, composed entirely of interlocking rectangles, square, triangles, and circles. If you’d like to keep your décor simple even with a striking color scheme, art prints can actually help. Here’s why:
Art prints pull together disparate colors in a room. A print gallery or website will be able to recommend the best art print based on the colors in your room. Some sites even have search engines that match a room’s color scheme with appropriate art prints.
When the furnishings in a room attract attention art prints make sure the walls provide visual interest, too, so the eye is not pulled relentlessly downward toward the furniture or rugs. Of course, you have to be careful not to give people a headache. As a rule of thumb, the more riotous the play of colors on the ground, the more orderly the play of colors on the walls should be. If the vibrant colors of your furnishings tend to swirl together, lend the room calm with artwork that takes those colors and presents them in neat lines and blocks.
Art prints make it clear that your colorful décor is a well-rhymed composition, not just a loud burst of color. Visitors to your pad who see a blue couch, red end tables, and yellow lamps might well wonder what you were thinking–until they see a print of “Broadway Boogie Woogie,” or other artwork that shows how these disparate colors really do belong together.
In the end, there is beauty in the simplicity of a room with a minimalist interior design, and there is beauty in the art that takes the same simple approach. If you keep that fact in mind when choosing artwork for your minimalist room, you can make sure your décor is more than minimally beautiful.
By: Joel Walsh
