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Lauren Heist, Accessory Merchandising
April, 2008
| |  | | This room, designed by Suzanne Gallagher, features a still life above the fireplace and black-and-white photographs along the wall — both styles that Gallagher says are popular with homeowners. |
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According to Suzanne Gallagher, author of "The Fine Art of Wall Design," home owners are leaning towards more abstract art and stretched canvases without a frame.
When it comes to wall art, what are consumers looking for these days? Are they hungry for stark realism or bold abstracts? City scenes or landscapes? Gold frames or black?
Suzanne Gallagher, author of "The Fine Art of Wall Design," is a Portland, OR-based interior designer who helps her clients frame and hang wall art. And Gallagher says knowing what kind of wall art consumers will buy is all about having your finger on the pulse of trends within interior design.
And one of the biggest trends affecting the type of wall art that consumers are after is a trend toward smaller living spaces.
A few years ago, massive suburban mansions were all the rage, with huge spaces that needed to be filled with large furniture and large artwork. But now, people are selling their homes and moving to downtown condos or lofts, and Gallagher says that return to smaller living spaces is affecting both the size of furniture and the art that accompanies it.
So instead of decorating with large-scale, rolled-arm sofas, consumers are leaning toward smaller-scaled contemporary furniture.
"We’re in this retro design of simplicity — armless sofas, a bench seat, seeing the legs," Gallagher says. "That’s a whole different look, and the perfect art for that is abstract."
Gallagher says consumers are becoming more comfortable with abstract are in their homes and as they see more of it, they’re becoming more sophisticated in their choices of abstract art.
"There’s some really wonderful abstract artists out there who do some amazing layering of different types of paints and metallics and multimedia collage with paint," Gallagher says. "Wow! They’re doing amazing things."
 | | | These two abstract paintings, called "Winger Victory" (top) and "Apollo" (bottom), both by artists Noah Li-Leger, are from Canadian Art Prints. | |
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The growing popularity of contemporary design is also driving a push toward artwork that doesn’t have a frame at all.
"The thing that we’re seeing a lot of is the canvas stretched over a tall stretcher bar without an exterior frame.… The image is on the top, it doesn’t go over the sides, and oftentimes the sides of the canvas are painted black or some other neutral color," Gallagher says. "It’s a very simple, contemporary look, however it can go in pretty much any home décor."
By carrying art without a frame, Gallagher says retailers can make the piece more appealing to more customers. "What’s great for the retailer about that application is that without the molding element, it doesn’t limit that image to any particular style for your décor. That’s one less objection that (the consumer) has, and if they want to put a frame on it, they put a frame on it."
Gallagher says the push towards frameless artwork wouldn’t even be possible without changes in art reproduction technology.
It used to be that paintings were reproduced using a process called seriographs, where the artist would use a silkscreen to make a few hundred copies of an original painting.
"For a long time, that was the very best way to reproduce an original, but it wasn’t just like the original, even though you had 57 screens of color layered, it was up to the seriographer and their eye to replicate the image as best as possible, but it could never be exact," Gallagher explains.
But now with digital technology, original paintings can be scanned and reproduced on any surface, whether that on paper or canvas.
Another innovation, Gallagher says, is the publishing companies are now offering reproductions in multiple sizes. "It used to be that if you’d buy an open edition print, it came in an 8 x 10 or 24 x 36, standard sizes. But now we can contact independent consultants… and I can call them up and say, hey, I want that in a smaller size," she says.
So what kinds subject matter are homeowners looking to put on their walls these days?
Gallagher says she’s seen a strong interest in black and white photography, still lifes, scenes of European country sides and Tuscan vineyards, and not surprisingly, given the burgeoning interest in the environment, images of grass and especially trees.
"For a while it was a tree on a hill, and I thought, if I see one more tree on a hill… [Then] for a while it was just a leaf," Gallagher laughs.
"What happens is somebody comes up with something that’s a little bit new and unique and of course everybody gets excited about it and it starts selling, and people in the industry get excited… and then it becomes copied," she says. "And then the publishers call up and say, ‘Hey can you paint some trees with no leaves on them; that’s what we were seeing a lot of at the last trade show.’ And (the artist says), ‘Sure, I can paint that!’ So now we’re going to see a lot of tree limbs without any leaves."
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Do you want to achieve a look in your home décor that is unique and represents your personality, your unique style? I have been helping clients in their homes and businesses with their art selection, framing design, and placement for over ten years. Now you can discover the thrill of knowing how to select, design and place art correctly and creatively with my new book, "The Fine Art of Wall Design."