Incorporating art into decor is easier than it’s ever been. In fact, you don’t even have to leave the house to buy it.
Everything from affordable prints from mass retailers such as Ikea, Urban Barn and Mobilia, to rare fine-art photography from a site like Ffoto, which has some 40,0000 classic and contemporary works, is now available online and can be shipped right to the front door.
CANADIAN ARTISTS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Also made more accessible are the works of art from people like Martha Burton, a Canadian-born photographer who shoots close-up studies of seaweeds, shells, and pebbles on the beaches of Santa Cruz, as well as sweeping landscapes that catch the shifting moods of the ocean.
Better availability of often-ignored Indigenous art is another benefit of web commerce. Sources include Toronto-based, Bay of Spirits Gallery, which specializes in contemporary First Nations art, and the online gift shop of the Art Gallery of Ontario, which sells, for example, beautiful prints starting at under $20.
TV-ART GALLERY
The Samsung Frame has turned the conventional television into a new platform for both accessing and viewing art. When the 4K ultra-high-definition screen is not functioning as a TV, it can be switched to an “art mode” to display a static image.
Samsung commissioned international art curator Elise Van Middelem to select 100 pieces that come free with the frame, and 800 additional multimedia works are available through the Samsung Art Store, home to artwork from museums and galleries such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England and Prado in Madrid, Spain.
Customizable “mattes” can be added, but during a demonstration by Middelem, I found the works without them much more powerful, and thought the matte-less format better suited the medium.
Users can also upload their own art. Unlimited access to the art store costs $8 a month. A permanent download of a piece costs $27. Suggested retail price for a 55-inch Frame is $3,000.
MIXING IT UP
A sideshow can also be placed on a “shuffle” function so that pieces can change at different intervals with a range lasting from 10 minutes to seven days. I can see the benefits of this feature, but still think static art gives the viewer time and space to better connect with it.
Sensors adjust lighting on the screen as light changes in the room throughout the day, so the art is always perfectly lit, and motion sensors can turn the unit off when the room is empty.
The unit comes in a charcoal black frame, but additional magnetic bezel frames in white, walnut, and beige wood can be purchased ($300 for 55-inch model). Sensors adjust lighting as natural and ambient light changes throughout the day, and motion sensors can turn the unit off when the room is empty.
DESIGN & ART IN THE BATHROOM
Great art can also serve as a starting point for design, as it did for Sally Wilson and John Kelsey, who created a glorious bath space for luxury line DXV influenced by art. Co-owners of Boston-based Wilson Kelsey Design, they used Impressionistic landscapes on walls, while the movement’s signature dappled light effect is reflected in a glass-tile mosaic created, amazingly, with design software and assembled robotically.
DXV’s Lowell soaking tub and floor-mounted tub filler echoes the curved lines of the room, while Percy faucets provide strong, sculptural lines that don’t get lost in this visually rich, colour-soaked room. Many of us may not have the means to replicate such an opulent look. But like all great art, its beauty is undeniably inspiring.
SOURCES samsung.ca , ffoto.com , ago.ca , wag.ca , marthaburtonart.com , wilsonkelseydesign.com , yellowkorner.com , bayofspirits.com , urbanbarn, mobilia.ca , dxv.com