How to Use Contemporary Art in a Traditional Interior
Contemporary art can bring new life to a traditional interior. Here’s how I think about contrast, framing, presentation and scale when mixing the two.
I love contemporary art in a traditional room. A traditional interior can feel almost timeless. It could have been designed and lived in at any point since that particular version of “traditional” took hold. Contemporary art changes that. It adds a spark and gives the person who lives there now a chance to put their stamp on it.
The goal isn't to make contemporary art match a traditional room. It's to make it look like you meant to put it there.
Contemporary Art Makes a Traditional Room Personal
One of the things I like about traditional interiors is that so many of the elements have a history. The architecture, antiques, furniture and materials all connect the room to what came before.
Contemporary art brings the current owner into it.
A bold painting or unexpected piece of art keeps the room from feeling like it belongs to another time. The traditional parts can still be traditional. The art is the part that says someone lives here now.
Contemporary art can give a traditional room a sense of who lives there now.
I don't think the art needs to imitate anything else in the room. In fact, the contrast is usually what makes it interesting.
Don't Match the Art to the Room, But Don't Ignore the Room Either
There's nothing wrong with taking the room into account when choosing art.
You sometimes hear that you should just choose what you love and everything will somehow work together. Maybe, but in a traditional room a lot of the design decisions have already been made. Pretending the vibe of the room doesn't matter makes about as much sense to me as trying to match everything perfectly.
The connection can be color, scale, subject, mood, or just a contrast that feels right. The art doesn't need to coordinate with the sofa and curtains. It just needs to look like you chose it knowing what room it was going into.
A large contemporary still life doesn't match this traditional room, but it belongs there.
Presentation Matters More Than You Think
Contemporary art in a white-box gallery can get away with a pretty unpolished presentation because the blank space around it does a lot of the work. The gallery itself is telling you that whatever is on that wall is art.
You don't have that luxury in a traditional interior.
This is where framing, mounting, lighting and placement become important. They tell you that the object you're looking at is there intentionally.
You can hang a skateboard on the wall and call it art. I have no problem with that. But put that skateboard in a traditional room and the way you display it becomes really important. You have to tell the person looking at it, “Yes, this is art. It's supposed to be here.”
Let Contemporary Art Look Contemporary
I generally lean toward a contemporary frame for contemporary art, even in a very traditional room.
There's already contrast between the art and the room. I don't think you necessarily need to create another contrast between the art and its frame.
A simple contemporary frame lets the artwork stay contemporary, even in a traditional setting.
Could you put a splatter painting in an elaborate gilt frame? Sure. That's probably too much contrast for me, but you live your life.
The important thing is that the framing looks deliberate. It should help the artwork feel finished and properly presented without trying to turn contemporary art into something traditional.
The Rules of Scale Haven't Changed
People can get a little too caught up in molding and architectural details when they're deciding what size artwork to use in a traditional room.
My advice is pretty simple: pretend the molding isn't there.
The same rules of scale apply that would apply in any other room. Look at the wall, the furniture below it and the room as a whole. Then choose the size of the art that makes sense.
The molding might affect exactly where you can hang it, but it doesn't make a piece that's too small suddenly the right size.
Mixing Contemporary Art With Traditional Interiors
You don't need to make contemporary art look traditional for it to work in a traditional room. You also don't need to go looking for the most extreme contrast you can find.
Pay attention to the room, choose art you actually want to live with, get the scale right and make the presentation look intentional.
A traditional room can tell you a lot about where it came from. Contemporary art tells you something about who lives there now.
Art Activity!
With so much uncertainty at the moment, I just wanted to share a fun activity you can do to pass the time with kids or kids at heart.
Unicorn - Coloring Book Series
With so much time at home for many of us, I just wanted to share a fun activity you can do to pass the time with kids or kids at heart.
Why not make something like my Coloring Book series?
Just use painter’s tape to create a shape (as fancy or simple as you like) on sturdy paper or canvas.
Let your kiddos scribble away (you can choose the colors if you’re particular like I am).
Carefully peel off the tape!
Voila!
"Estimate Upon Request" at Revolution Mill
Blue & White Porcelain, Golden Age, Cong Vase
My newest series of collages began with my interest in fine art and antiquities auctions. The way valuable objects are displayed for these sales and more specifically for the sales catalogues was the jumping off point for the group of “Vase” collages. Subsequently the “Shell” collages explore how this desire to display valuable objects translates to luxury home decor. Finally, the “Golden Age” collage depicts the display of what we now think of as everyday objects that were once so symbolic of wealth that they would be preserved in a second luxury item, an original commissioned painting, whose sole purpose was to communicate the owner’s status and power.
The series title comes from a new trend where auction houses choose not to publicly release the estimates for their most high profile lots.
Moon Shell, Scallop Shell, Conch Shell
Road Trip Series
My "Road Trip" series is based on a winding journey through the American West. Travel art is usually photography based but I wanted to capture that sense of vernacular image in the crisp, retro style of paper collage. If you're looking for a sign, this is it.
Cut Flowers I & II
(Detail)
Cut Flowers I & II
While the originals have sold to a new collector, I wanted to say a bit about my cut flower collages. They are inspired by the cast off cuttings on a florist's floor after the creation of a floral arrangement. The single buds are no longer useful to someone creating a large bouquet but on the black floor of the shop they are beautiful in their own right.
Style Sketches at the Mill Village Collective
During international Furniture Market in April I was lucky enough to exhibit with the Mill Village Collective.
Part of my Style Sketches series and some new giant sketches (over 9 feet tall) were shown during the convention that birngs tens of thousands of home design professionals to High Point, NC.
As well as a great reception, a piece from the series was featured in the pages of Designers Today Magazine.
"Call Me By Your Name"
My two newest collages are based on the Oscar nominated film about a summer love affair in the Italian countryside, "Call Me By Your Name."
I wanted to capture the passion and ease of the film with a diptych of contrasting images. An intimate love story is not easily recreated but I sought to engage those same feelings that the warmth of the sun and a delicious meal can conjure in our memories.
"Peach Tree At Night" shows the heavy limbs of a peach tree lit by the light of an open window.
"Soft Boiled Egg" brings the viewer to the next morning with a broken egg in an egg cup ready to be devoured.
These collages were created with a new technique. Before applying the individual cut paper pieces (leaves, peaches, etc) I spray painted each one to create depth and shading.
Later!
Fine art, archival quality print of the original paper collage "Peach Tree At Night".
30” x 20” image on 34” x 24” archival, 100% cotton art paper.
Signed and numbered.
Fine art, archival quality print of the original paper collage "Soft Boiled Egg".
30” x 20” image on 34” x 24” archival, 100% cotton art paper.
Signed and numbered.
Misadventures of a Teenage Renegade
My new t-shirt design is inspired by a fake play from a movie that no one saw....
The Robert Downey Jr. and Anton Yelchin film "Charlie Bartlett" (a quiet gem of a movie) includes a scene where Charlie, played by Yelchin, is audtioning for the school play.
Instead of performing a Shakespearean monologue he goes for a piece from the (actually unreal) play "Misadventures of a Teenage Renegade". It is over-the-top, ridiculous, and charming.
My shirt shows the fictitious script for that play.
"Misadventures" Shirt & Other Merchandise
"Misadventures" Monologue
