Do you look at the art in your home?

[Lionne]

@Cartooniverse

–winces-- To many of us, photography is an art form.

I guess that’s why I have photography on my walls rather than paintings or drawings. I’ve seen some fabulous artwork, many that I find pleasing and I enjoy looking at. But I would much rather surround myself with photographs and adorn my walls with real things, with ‘caught in a moment’ images, than something imagined. Photography is *my * art of choice, and I didn’t think others thought that way. My (erroneous) perception of art was always sculpture, paintings and drawings.
Consider me enlightened!

Beautiful photos, by the way. Black and white is difficult to do!

[Cartooniverse]

Many thanks, that’s very kind.

The toughest part is sitting down and removing all of the color, one bit at a time, while leaving the black, white and gray tones.

God, that’s dreary work !!

[Drunky_Smurf]

First off I apologize for the novel.

Yes I do. I place things so I have to look at them. You might notice a theme. I love impressionistic scenery. They’re like some far away place that you were at in a dream and after you wake up you’re trying to remember the dream. You get the gist of it but the details are vague.

I have several Van Gogh posters in my bedroom, “Starry Night” is on the opposite wall from the door so when I walk into my bedroom I see it. I have “Starry Night over the Rhone” on the opposite wall of my bed so when I lay in bed I’m looking at it. I have those because they are night scenes and I use my bedroom for sleeping at night time, mostly.

And Monet’s “Sunset In Venice” on the wall just above my alarm clock. It’s called “Sunset” but it also looks like a sunrise which is why it is above the alarm clock.

I have a poster of Monet’s “Morning on Seine” at the end of the hall so I see it as I’m walking down it. It was a present and since it’s a water scene it’s on the wall right before you turn right to go into the bathing room.

Also in the hallway I have two paintings my grandpa made back when he was still breathing and some family photo’s. I have these to remind me that there are people in my life that I love and who love me.

On the back of my front door (the interior part) I have a 3’x3’ quilt my mom made. It’s the last thing I see as I exit my apartment so I get a quick flash of mom, family and love as I head on out into the world.

In the kitchen I have Van Gogh’s “Cypress trees” and a painting by some lady that I bought at a garage sell from some other lady for $2. It is of a bright and cheery field with a bright blue sky. I like those in the kitchen because it makes the kitchen bright and cheery because I hate doing the dishes so they help me feel a little better while I do the dishes.

In the living room right above my computer desk I have a painting I did. It’s really basic with just primary colors. It has a big yellow and orange sun in the upper right-hand corner. Then moving down there is a lot of white space and below that is a bright blue cloud in the basic shape of an angel flying horizontally towards the left with rain coiming down from it and below that is some more white space and below that across the whole bottom of the canvas is a bright green field. I have it there because it is brightly colorful and that small space is where I do my creating.

Also in the living room is Van Gogh’s “Vegetable Gardens”. It reminds of where I grew up. Which was a small town out in the country in Oklahoma. The landscape is very flat out there and this reminds me of that and being a kid.

And finally I have a 3’x5’ Jolly Roger hanging over the couch that I just got at Disneyland last month. The reason I got it is because pirates are cool. It is also the one I look at the most lately. I have a buccaneer style cutlass and I’ll stand in front of the flag with it and drift of into pirate heaven for a little bit.

[Otto]

The only “art” I have up at the moment is in the form of refrigerator magnets. Which I look at every time I open the fridge. So I guess my answer is yes.

[nashiitashii]

I’m a big of a magpie and have managed to collect a reasonable amount of visually oriented stuff. I definitely look at the art pieces that I have; some of them represent times in my life, while others are things bought purely for their visual appeal. Having lived with a parent for the past year, I spend lots of time contemplating the pieces she has collected; some of them are prints, some are originals, and almost all of them have some sort of visual value to me. My favorite among her collection is a charcoal drawing that depicts a scene from a traditional tale that I’m very familiar with; it gives just enough of an impression to bring you back into the story.

[Dung_Beetle]

@Yag Rannavach

I also don’t have any art in my place. I don’t plan on ever displaying any art, unless it’s decoration for other people, so I would have no reason to stop and look at it. Then again, I don’t really believe in art, so my opinions might change if I ever do come to understand why someone feels something from looking at a picture/drawing/sculpture/whatever.

I have a hard time appreciating art, too. I can see beauty in furniture, and I like photographs of lightning or cute little animals, but I hardly think that’s what is meant by “art”.

We have some stuff hanging on our walls, though. It all belongs to my husband. The Escher print is neat, but I wouldn’t say it moves me.

We have a couple of vases I like…one because it’s red and sparkly, the other because it’s weird and curvy. We also have an old lamp which is shaped like a cherub holding a…a pineapple, maybe?..on his head. I like it because it’s just so darn ugly and peculiar, and yet, you have to assume that whoever created it and whoever bought it must have thought it was beautiful. It truly boggles the mind.

[Askance]

I have a giant electron microscope image of a chromosome on my wall. It’s maybe 4’ long and 3’ high. I just sit and just look at it every so often, it provokes all sorts of thoughts.

[Barrington]

@delphica

There’s a few different kinds of “art” in the house, but as long as you’re defining it as anything decorative, the thing I look at the most is a framed vintage map of my hometown, about 100 years old. I look at it constantly, and use it as a reference when I’m trying to figure out how old something is - is it old enough to be on the map? I get this crazy kick out of finding little differences, like where a street got extended another block. I’m not sure if I should consider this purely decorative because it’s also utilitarian, but it’s very nice looking and hangs in a frame.

Likewise - I have several old (19th, early 20th century) large maps of this city, plus a few of the surrounding countryside. Also a lot of 10x8 photos from the same era taken around here. And I look at them a lot, sometimes like you, for reference, other times just gazing and mentally touring around.

Those are along the landing (it’s a very long landing) and down the stairs (also very long); in my living room are several poster-sizes photos of jazz musicians by Herman Leonard and William Gottlieb. I look at these a lot too - maybe visitors think I’m trying to look cool and trendy by having them up there, but these musicians have meant a lot to me. And Duke Ellington, hanging over the fireplace, his thoughtful baggy eyes looking over the piano - that man changed my life.

The rest of the flat is cheap prints of Constable, Canaletto, that sort of thing - I can’t afford to replace them with anything more personal yet. I still look at them from time to time, though.

[Sattua]

The piece I look at most often is a large framed poster print of “The Unicorn in Captivity” tapestry. When I was very little–like until I was about four years old–I had a poster of it hanging in my bedroom. It got lost when we moved house, or something, and twenty years later I remembered it and wanted another copy. By that time though, the red “Lady and the Unicorn” tapestries were the oooonly ones anyone was interested in. Luckily, I was sent to New York for business, and had a morning to make the pilgrimage all the way up to the Cloisters, where I saw the real tapestry, and bought the poster. I framed it and now hang it prominently wherever I live.

Not only is it lovely, but I find a lot of significance in it, and its place in the “Hunt of the Unicorn” series. It has a lot of personal meaning.

[Sattua]

@Barrington

The rest of the flat is cheap prints of Constable, Canaletto, that sort of thing - I can’t afford to replace them with anything more personal yet. I still look at them from time to time, though.

Canaletto is wonderful. His student, Bellotto, is even better. That’s a good idea. Maybe I should get some prints of theirs.

[Cartooniverse]

@Tahssa

In the living room right above my computer desk I have a painting I did.

Do you have a way to share it here?