Every sunday in my hometown they publish a dream home, some real estate jewel to gin up the envy, and then the ads. Something’s always missing. These houses never have art, and there’s a reason. Will admit that just this week it’s possible to identify two museum reproductions, but that stuff is less than invisible, and less than art. Real art won’t abet the designer’s craft, and doesn’t care about location. As a matter of fact, art is subversive, difficult to handle, not for the faint of heart. Art can be the interior designer’s nightmare, and civilians should only approach with caution.
Art can take over a room, and become, by habit, the first thing noticed. It’s the couch and drapes that’ll have to match up, but it probably won’t matter -- with art in the room it’s more important to be comfortable. Other furnishings drop in, periods and diverse sources learn to live together. Art isn’t for everyone. For example, if it’s important to you to live up to everyone else’s expectations, absolutely no one expects you to buy art, and you’d only be self-conscious about it if you did, don’t bother.
On the other hand, if you tend to move occasionally, rearranging your stuff to fit each new abode, art provides familiar and friendly right away. If you stay in the same place, everything else in the house eventually becomes out of date, worn, and replaced, but the art doesn’t change at all, just gets better, portraits never age. On the scary side, you might reveal yourself to anyone who wanders in, in-laws, neighbors, someone fixing a faucet. They’d look around, look back at you. You take your chances.
Somebody might like your art, and there are pretty good odds they’d like you, and while not absolutely certain, you might like them, too, or at least have things to talk about, find other things in common. Art doesn’t really care about the zip code, the shape of the driveway or the composition of countertops, such transitory stuff. Art is more about your attitudes, your values, what you respond to, and if you start looking at art, sooner or later you’ll recognize yourself, give it a try. Take that piece home and hang it where you’ll see it everyday.
No comments:
Post a Comment