I love portraits, the vintage kind the modern kind I guess because I am so drawn to that English country slash urban gentleman's drinking club vibe I love particularly stately looking works of art, combined with bohemian pieces with maybe a bit of bad boy thrown in! I love how portraits draw you into them, I picked up the coolest one a while back for £40 in Notting Hill. When the guy said £40 I actually asked him to repeat it like 3 times until he was like 'all right have it for £30'! Whichever route you go down portraits add instant warmth and character to walls.
How to hang them that is the question well you can group them 'en masse' like so, all similar in feel:
Or you can up the anty and combine with a more contemporary vibe which I think adds so much more interest rather than the art being all one note so to speak, it makes walls way more compelling I feel.
If the art is big enough let it take center stage and put nothing else around it, other than possibly illuminating the piece. I am a fan of salon style walls but sometimes all that is required is just one super cool piece of art and
voilà . Also I should say art doesn't need to big to be hung on a wall alone - just hang it lower than feels comfortable it will engage you for more.
I love hanging portraits in unexpected places like bathrooms, tiny loos, hallways, above the door frame so you extend the eye up . It makes all those undistinguished places that we normally just zoom by a lot more dignified, it will make you stop and linger and linger time as anyone in retail knows in crucial. The longer the better! Oh and I have to show you these pieces by some amazing contemporary artists who are taking portraits to new heights:
Check out this guy - Andrew Myers a California based artist who creates phenomenal works of art out of screws - between 8000 to 10,000 screws no less!
Christian Faur creates incredibly captivating, mesmerizing portraits out of crayons. When viewed close up the image completely disappears because of the three dimensional nature of the crayons, so very beautiful!
Daniel Kornrumpf mimics brush strokes through thread, so so clever!
And finally Russ Lewis who is a super talented artist, all round good egg and also a member of the family (he is my sister's boyfriend) and he has just completed these paintings for the
store which I love.
