The art world can be kind of intimidating; we totally get it. Alongside the pressures of finding art that’s actually cool (say no to Ikea posters!), there is the pressure of finding art that you’ll actually love for the entirety of its life.
If you’re anything like us, you’re probably ready and willing to enter the art world and start building up your portfolio, but you just don’t know where to start. The often parodied art world can be a scary place filled with black turtle necks, horn rimmed glasses and an abundance of snobbery. We’re here to tell you that this ‘art world’ is a bit of a farce, and it’s actually a fun, totally welcoming space.
We’ve picked the brain of online and IRL gallery TW Fine Art’s curator and owner, Tove, to find out just how to pick art that you won’t hate in six months now that you’re an adult.
Picking Art Is Hard… Here’s The Easiest Way To Do It
Buying art should be about the way a pieces moves you, and what it will add to your life rather than a purely aesthetic, trend-driven place. Drawing on things like scale, location and environment can be far more powerful place to start than finding a piece that will merely blend in.
Start with aspects like colour and composition—things that you’re organically and emotionally drawn to. This means you’ll have a relationship with that piece of art for much longer than something you buy based on trends and anything other than a guttural reaction. It’s also really important to form relationships with the artist and to understand where the work is coming from, how it was made and what it’s communicating.
Let’s be real though: choosing your art work is a very personal experience and you’re the only who will know what’s right.
Websites like TWFINEART are useful tools here—they organise a highly curated selection of art for you to pick from an array of price points and styles without having to get all dressed up and head into a fancy art gallery.
But… Where Should You Put Your New Art?
It can be a daunting task trying to find a spot for your new piece of art, we get it. But, Tove from TWFINEART has a few tips to make the whole process easier.
Colour
Art work has the ability to influence the colours around it, and vice versa, so be sure to put your art in a place where it can work with tones from its surroundings—think more about complimenting not matching colours. For example, just because your couch is grey, doesn’t mean your art needs to be grey. TWFINEART website lets you sort by colour which is, you know, amazing.
Composition
It’s also important to factor in composition just as you would colour. Shape and form can help to balance out your space in the same way that bold, blocks of colour can break up cluttered spaces. So organic, softer compositions can help to balance out structured, rigid rooms. Isn’t art amazing?
Framing
Framing your art is often seen as an afterthought, solved only by a quick dash to Kmart. Given the unique, one-off nature of the work sold at TWFINEART it’s so worth getting them to frame your piece for you—at prices so, so much better than competitors mind you!—in a way that will best compliment your art and your space.
Scale
It’s also really important to consider scale when picking a space. You may think that big spaces call for bigger pieces, but, you’ll be surprised to know that larger pieces actually work better in smaller spaces. If you’re still umming and ahhing, TWFINEART can help you customise your piece or give you that much-needed insight into which one to pick—if you show them a picture of the space they’ll find the perfect fit with three alternate selections.
TWFINEART get it: working out where to put art can be really, really hard. That’s why they’re down and willing to help you pick the perfect space to display your new pieces. Or, the perfect pieces for your new space. How perfect is that?
Keen to get started building your portfolio? Get browsing on the TWFINEART website now.
Image credit: TW Fine Art.