Present2Sell - By The Dart Jun 2009
Choosing artwork for the home
As well as collecting artwork for display and enjoyment in our homes, it can also act as a useful design tool to create intended effects.
In these terms, we can say that artwork is the decorative display of 2D or 3D objects, usually having a strong enough presence to benefit from being surrounded by empty space rather than by other things. Often the amount of space surrounding a sculpture or painting is in proportion to its value to its owner!
In this sense, artwork often forms a focal point. Any room is improved by having a focal point, especially so when presenting a property for sale. It helps visitors to connect to a space while they absorb the details of it. You will have the double advantage of putting people at their ease while also securing their admiration.
Artwork can minimise the effects of a poorly proportioned room - if a room is long and thin, the far wall can be brought nearer with a large piece that draws the eye to it. If this is the intention then it works best if the image is itself large, rather than just in a large frame, and identifiable at some distance.
Images and objects can be placed in such a way as to enhance some feature of a room. Choosing slender, narrow artwork, that takes up vertical space will call attention to tall, elegant ceilings, for example. Positioning artwork with care will set up invisible conversations between the context and the objects: the whole will be more than the sum of the parts.
Equally, artwork can draw the eye away from an area you would rather visitors did not dwell on - again, very useful when presenting a property for sale. Collections do this really well. Very effective is to create a series of small to medium sized wall-mounted pictures, framed within an invisible square or circle.
The way the artwork is lit will affect how it communicates to those in its space. Direct lighting from ceiling-mounted directional spots or wall-mounted picture lights can create assertiveness or ambiguity, depending on the strength of the light. Some art has more impact if it has to be found, or if its presence gradually comes into the awareness. People like a little mystery and perplexity and sometimes, lighting an object or image in a subtle or oblique way will imbue it with the sort of irrestistible invitation that is more in keeping with its character.
If your purpose in choosing artwork is to pull an interior scheme together, colour images are especially useful. It's not always easy to find exactly the right image in the right size but there are several solutions to this. If you have a digital camera and some editing software, you can tailor one of your own photographs so the colours exactly complement those in your room. In this way you can also control the size of the image and crop it or extend it to exactly fit the space you wish to fill.
The finished image can then be emailed or posted on a disc to a print supplier for printing either on paper or canvas. Canvas works best on images that have relatively high contrast and are slightly soft-focus. Images that are sharply defined work better on paper print and if not framed, should be protected with a matte or glossy laminate coating. There is also the option of buying images from websites such as iStock which can again be edited to suit your particular space.
