Have you bought an original work of art lately? Not a reproduction, but something hand-made?
I like art on my walls, and I want something more then a framed poster. So on my walls I have:
a big (6 feet by 5 feet) wall hanging, made from embroidered scraps from sari’s and old afghan dresses. (120 dollar)
a framed mirror with elaborately cut wooden leaves in the frame. (about 50 bucks)
a very beautiful sculpture (about 3 feet square) made of a tree stump. It hangs on my wall, and a womans face is cut in the tree trunk itself, while the roots radiating from all sides are cut to be her flowing hair. ( 100 dollar)
All three of the above I bought at an ethnic store, not at a gallery.
And I am thinking of buying an sculpture like this one, for my garden. It is made by African artists from Zimbabwe, from a greenish stone that is common there. Here is a selection of the kind of artwork they sell. I’m in love with a bird, nearly a foot high, with its tail craned over its head.
So, tell me about the kind of artwork you chose for your home? How did you get it, and how much did you pay?
I got this a year or two ago–it’s a hand-painted replica (snerk) of the cover of Captain Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica by Cal Schenkel, who designed and photographed the original. The inscription at the upper left reads “For Biffy.”
I recently bought 3 original drawings and had them scanned and inverted and printed (which was the intent of the artist since he draws the negative). They aren’t hung yet. Here is one with the original sketch for comparison.
That is lovely! It looks like an illustration for a story.
I also have a sketch by an rather famous artist in the Netherlands, Herman Brood. He was drug-addled enfant terrible and rocker, a bit like that English guy called Peter who dated Kate Moss. Anyway, at the end of his career he took al sorts of odd jobs to keep his debtors off his back. One of those jobs had him delivering a sort of (de)motivational speech for an audience of “employees of the month” from a temp agency. As part of the gig, he drew portraits of a few people from his audience and my husband was one of them. So that is why we have a portrait of my husband made by Herman Brood hanging in our living room. My husband hates it, but I like it and, you know, it is an real Brood and I’m kind of a snob that way.
**jharvey963 **, I have linked to youtube clips of elephants painting like that. So you actually witnessed your painting being made? That is so cool. I would love to own something like that. If I may ask, how much did you pay for it?
I didn’t buy them, but I scored a bunch of paintings, silkscreens, and photo prints from a friend who just moved from Indiana to California a few weeks ago. She’s worked in the local art scene for years (and will continue to do so in CA), and amassed more than she could take along. In addition, my ex-fiancee was a painter, and she gave me a couple of paintings as gifts a few months before we broke up.
My apartment went from having nothing on the walls but a clock, to having art all over the place.
I didn’t see my particular painting being painted, but I did see an elephant paint one. Ours had been painted on a previous day. As far as how much it cost, well, it cost the princely sum of SIX HUNDRED BAHT. Or about $20 US.
Framing it once we got home cost us 6 times as much. sigh.
Yes, just last summer we bought a painting by Andrew Stelmack for about $2,000. As a singer, I’ve worked with him a couple of times, and I’ve really enjoyed his work for the last few years.
Mark Uhre is another artist from whom I’d love to buy a painting; I just have to see how the finances go over the next few years.
Just purchased two pieces of Megan Levacy’sart, but can’t bring it home until her Master’s exhibition is over: Ascencion (pictured on her site) and an unnamed piece. Megan painted taxidermied birds, much like Audubon and Gould. Except… Megan painted them as is rather than re-animating in their natural environment. Lying on their backs, claws curled, toe-tagged, and soundly deceased. My favorite isn’t pictured; I’ll post pics as soon as I bring it home.
All of you who posted and bought something: tell me how much you paid? I have the feeling that “normal people” , whatever your definition of normal is, will very rarily buy art at art-gallery prices.
As for me, Yesterday I bought that statue I mentioned upthread, for 120 euro’s (about 150 dollar). Here it is in my garden. I put it on a pedestal I made from a column of stone meant to edge some paving.
