Art at home

In Modern Art Notes, Adams Helms offers insight from the artist’s point of view on how art pieces are or should be treated when they are placed in a home, and how much the artist should (not) worry about that. He quite sensibly explains that

works of art produced leave the studio and go out into the world, more often than not, into private collections. These private collections more often than not are in people’s homes.

While he proceeds to encourage artists to accept that and move on to making new work, the context he creates in the interview is that his own piece in his dealer’s home is being moved at his request. He has reasons, just as any artist would, and those reasons are interesting. But it is rather at odds with his overall message.

A few of my photographs are in other people’s homes, including the homes of some people I don’t know. That fact is still new enough to me that I’m not at all worried about where they’ve been placed; I’m just delighted that I’ve sold some prints. And while I can imagine having an interesting discussion with someone about where a piece might really stand out, I think that the placement process should be owned by the person who owns the art piece.

What I’ve noticed in my own home is that it’s important to have the context and placement of a piece change over time. Art in a home becomes background noise if its placement is too static; periodic changes keep the art fresh and prevent it from becoming a meaningless design element. That fits well with my belief that there is no single ideal context and placement for any given art piece, because the piece can evoke different responses from a viewer depending on the context and placement. Sadly, I don’t live in a home that could be featured in The New York Times Style Magazine. In practice, many pieces stay put and only the distracting clutter changes.