That story would convince me to keep a mass-produced print around too! So sweet!

I get what you mean too about being automatically turned off to that type of art even though I don't have a problem with furniture, clothing, etc. that is mass-produced. Isn't that strange? Guess it is just one of those things!

Origin and history, if unique, are a facet to why I like something but neither is the definding factor to whether I actually like something or not. I wouldn't have something in my house that I didn't like just because it had a cool story. There's just not enough room to have things you don't like but keep because they're conversation pieces.

I also can't judge much when it comes to mass-produced pieces. Even the prints I like to buy from real artists are mass-produced, just not on a scale as big as say, buying something from IKEA. They print them and sell them via etsy or other online sites. The most "orginal" you can have is either truly original, in which there is only one, and limited editions.

A huge part of the appreciation and interpretation of art is one's own personal experiences and histories. There isn't a piece of art that graces my walls that doesn't have a 'story'. Perhaps not all who enter my home will love them, but I think that these carefully chosen pieces are what make my house a home and I am so glad that your new found love for your mass-produced piece of art will help to make your new living arrangement with your bf...a home!

Cute story, odd print!

cute story indeed. but I don't understand why you waited months to ask about the painting.

How cute is that story? I totally get it! I live with a lot of things I don't particularly care for because I respect my husband and what he likes. I get 90% of the house to do my way so I can't balk at the Beatle Flip You Wig gameboard poster over his desk. Ugh.

I'm not a fan of mass produced art generally. Unique vintage stuff sometimes. There is a lot of art I like on Etsy and expensive folk/outsider that I could never afford. I would rather not have it at all than have a print. I know some prints can be worth money in some instances but there's nothing like the real deal. Whenever I see glicee I cringe and move on.

My (now) husband did the same thing with dishes. I found them awful, as well, until I heard the story of their origin... now I adore them.

I dont see any problem with mass produced art as long as I like it. Maybe it just says my taste is "mass-produced"? I view "art" as disposable ... my taste changes and if a print cost $20 versus a "real" art piece that cost $2000, I will go for the print. I could love it for a year and then switch it out when I get bored by it.

But decorating has to be personal to me. What I dont understand are things that are propogated on TV or magazines ... for example, three balls in a bowl or something of that nature that has no personal meaning or story behind it.

Being a designer, I see & specify common furniture, art etc every day. That means I dont want any of it in my own personal space. I made 1 exception - my leather sofa, I have dogs and so something simple, durable and easily replaceable makes sense. Everything else in my home has a story, or was produced by me or a loved one. Luckily there are several artists in the family who have given us beautiful watercolors, oils & acrylics.

My husband is a history teacher, he collects newspapers from significant dates. We have framed many of these, also. I prefer color in wall art, but it does have a great effect with many hung together in our stairway, and visitors are always intrigued. The reason I support framing and hanging them isnt just the history. Not long after we met he took me on a tour through his newspapers (at the time stored in cardboard boxes in a closet). He saved one local movie page from its original print date, when he was just 10, because it had so many notable movies on it. Godfather II and Caberet are two of them. The date of the paper: 9/8/72. They day before I was born. When he realized this, it was the first one framed and on the wall.

Co-habitating requires tolerance and if your co-habitator likes something enough to live with it, then that really should be all the reason one needs imo. I always consider the shoe being on the other foot, and that things I love may not obviously be loveable or liveable to someone else. If your boyfriend has simply said, "I really like it!" would that have invited another round of discussion and potential for getting rid of it?

I am certainly a visual person, but I have learned that a partnership is about two people, regardless of style-savvyness. A piece of art shouldn't really be the focus of any relationship imho.

I have some mass-produced art... in the bathroom. I don't want blank walls, but I also don't want something I actually care about to get ruined by steam from the shower. This is the ONLY place I'd actually put something like this.

I feel the same way about mass produced art. I have seen some prints at Target and the such framed on sale for like $8 that I actually like but stop myself because I know so many people already have them (granted if I saw them in a local art shop I pay 5x as much).

I do have a small mass produced piece of art in my kitchen, however. I only keep it for the same sentimental reason. It was in the kitchen of our lakehouse that I went to every summer for most of my childhood. We sold it last year, but that piece (among a few other odds and ends I have) have so many good memories attached to them I'll never give it up

Some day you may both spy a wonderful work of art that you agree would be perfect for that space.

Why resign yourself to keeping it forever?

If I like something, I don't care if it is mass produced or one-of-a-kind. If it looks great on my wall and it makes me happy, that's all I really need.

Wow that is so cute!

That is adorable. I would live with carpet in the kitchen if this was the reason behind it :)

For YEARS I kept an ugly lamp that looked like it belonged in a turn of the century bordello. But it was the first thing I ever bought with the first paycheck from my first job ever, so it represented so much to me. I finally passed it on to a friend's daughter who was moving into her first apartment who loved the quirkiness of the lamp and the story behind it. She even sent me a photo of it after she moved in! My hope is that this lamp will be handed down again and again to young women taking their first steps into their independent lives (wishful thinking, but I'm cool with that!)

Hate to say it but this preference against mass produced art sounds a little snobby and first world.
Not everyone has the time or money for original art with stories, sometimes you are busy and broke and you happen to like something on sale at Ikea (I'd say that's the majority of the population). Doesn't mean you don't deserve happiness :)

I have mass-produced art on my walls because I like very old art, and until I can figure out how to time-travel and get van Eyck or Vermeer to paint me an original, I'm stuck with framed prints. :)

Real taste is not automatically sneering at something because it's mass-produced. Real taste is loving what you love, which is not always going to be something mass produced but probably also won't always be something unique and handcrafted. Real taste means not giving a damn about any criteria save what the art means to you.

(You might of course wind up having bad taste -- but better your own bad taste than someone else's good taste!)

The print is not all that bad. I mean, it could be soooo much worse....

(confession time) My husband bought me a mass-produced Picasso line drawing poster, framed, a few years back after I told him what the image, in concept, meant to me. I did not state that I wanted that image 24x36 in an ugly frame as an Xmas gift that year. Fast forward...we moved into a house last year and he has asked why we don't hang it somewhere. Luckily, there are several pieces of orignal art that haven't been hung either, not because I'm indecisive, but because they are keeping The Framed Poster company. Ugh.

Part 2: For Xmas this year, my mother in law gave us an original charcoal sketch of my husband, our baby and me, from a (college) student of hers. It's done nicely, but it's large 18x24 and well, I don't like the way I am portrayed in it nor want something that personal on display.

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss mass-produced art prints if I were you guys. I went to an art school and took a couple of painting classes over the years. We used to play a game -- who could get the most money for the ugliest or most ridiculous paintings. We'd sell them in those little art galleries and stores, at festivals, and whatnot. If you like something, then you like something. If you dismiss something you like because it's mass produced and would rather 'real' art, then you may end up with one of our creations :)

There is no need to keep the print forever. Apparently it is also meaningless to your boyfriend who bought it not because he liked it, but because he liked you.

The story is gold and you will "have" it forever. No need to hang on to a thing simply because you have a story to go with it. The original intention behind the purchase, and the memory of the sweet beginning of your relationship is what is really worth saving.

That is such a cute story. I completely understand waiting to ask a significant other about an item that perhaps isn't one's taste. As someone with definite opinions about the stuff I choose to live with, sometimes I need to be careful that I don't over-express myself about my boyfriend's things (even though we don't live together.)

LOL I totally agree. One thought a friend suggested is when you move in together (especially if you're moving into a space already inhabited by your significant other) is to take down everything and put the house back together as a couple.

Yes! The most horrible thing in my condo is the stairs. The condo was built in the early 70s, and the stairs are open, floating stairs that are completely covered (even the side panel) in beige carpeting. It has always reminded me of the van from Dumb and Dumber. Anyway- never got rid of it because we never had the money to put in a new stairway, so we just lived/loathed with it. But then, we got a cat.
And the cat gets so much joy from the stairs: he spends half the day perched under the first step (his favorite cave), and he LOVES playing on the stairs (wiggling through the steps, grabbing our feet when we go up and down). It's almost like a giant cat condo.
So even though it's really ugly, my cat loves it, so I love it.

And we're selling the house, so why bother?

As someone who creates mass-produced images and admires them as well, I humbly disagree. Some of my favorite artists are now, and were in their time, mass produced, for example Warhol, Toulouse Tautrec, Mucha. Some wonderful art is available to people who could never afford such a luxury as fine art and for design junkie, allows us to redecorate easily when the stakes are lower. Additionally, it increases art awareness for the average buyer, provides another opportunity for artists to make a living with their work, and doesn't take away from the fine art market which is a possibility for a very few artists and their clientele.

I'm glad you've reexamined your bias against mass produced art, even if it is because of what you as the owner have brought to the image.

I'd love the story of it enough to keep it...in the closet. Or maybe take a picture of it to keep as my screen-saver. I can be pretty sentimental, but I draw a line between keeping and displaying. I have some crazy sentimental stuff in my storage unit that will never see the light of day.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If it works for you, that's great. If you can add some matting and an interesting frame, all the better!

I have a question: what if your husband told you the reason he bought it was that he liked it? Would that have been enough for you to compromise and agree that it should stay?

I think for me it depends on what it is, so if it's mass produced? I have an IKEA print, framed that I bought at a carport sale several years ago. It's called Midnight Moon and it looks to be a reprint of paper art, decorative paper traced with white chalk, cut out and layered to look like an abstract of a moonlit night over the ocean and is rectangular, squares and two round circles, one in dark blue, one in a lighter blue. It's wonderful in itself and I have it in the bathroom. I'd work elsewhere too.

That said, I don't mind things that have a mass produced, or commercial aspect to it because it IS art, no matter what it is. if you like something, by all means make it yours, even if it's a post card you've framed.

But in the end, art is what you make of it, even if it's by a famous artist, such as Piccasso, or Rembrandt, or something that has commercial origins, but elevated to something better than its origins, as long as it beautifies your home in the way you like it.

Change out the frame. And turn it on its side! And put it on a smaller wall. (We put art above our powder room sink and the bath mirror on an adjoining wall. And art above our kitchen sink since there is no window.) Enjoy!

If you like something, why on earth would you care how many other people have it? My art "collection" includes one-of-a-kind originals, prints, and mass-produced pieces from Ikea and the like. If I like it and I can afford it, I buy it, hang it, and enjoy it. How incredibly pretentious to dislike something based solely on its availability to the masses.

Looks like a female ghost floating parallel to the ground with a painfully vertical head. I find it interesting; there's far more worse mass produced art than this one. I have two; guess you would call them mass produced, framed pictures. One is from a Blu Dot catalog and the other, a mag. photo IIR, Architecture Digest. Otherwise, I just have my own photography. But, often, on AT, I'll see someone elses art and wish I could have / find it. So, mass isn't ALL bad; there's plenty of crappy original (dare it be called art?) stuff out there that will never be mass produced.

My boyfriend has this ridiculous velvet (yes, velvet!) portrait of John Wayne hanging in our office. Three years ago, when I moved in I hated it- not only is it ugly, but its HUGE. A few months ago during a redecorating phase he told me he would get rid of it. I was thrilled at first, but I have this connection to that damned thing now. It's still hanging on our wall. At the end of the day that silly piece of "art" reminds of him- and that always makes me smile.

I put up with an entire bookshelf full of an ex's Star Trek memorabilia for the entire year we lived together. I never learned to love it, but I accommodated it.

Mass-produced art - I don't actually have any, but that's because my mom is an artist. My walls are FILLED with her paintings, YAY! I just posted about a couple of her watercolours on my blog this morning: http://dodiegoldney.wordpress.com/2013/03/21/manifest-headboard/

The story is sweet. It isn't a Thomas Kinkade produced for millions of people and therefore tacky. Keep it. Change out the frame, possibly put it in another spot above a large piece of furniture.

@DodieGoldney .. the killer whales are so much better than the mass produced chinese painting thing (no one ever talks about them being mass produced) that was there before. Nice change.

I thought the eyesore you were referring to is the dimple that the picture appears to have near the bottom edge. I thought it was damaged, but it may just be a trick of the light, with an intentionally light spot as well.

Be happy you aren't dealing with a beer can pyramid or the painting of poker-playing dogs.

Some friends, in their bachelor roommate days, had a TAPESTRY of Dogs Playing Poker on the wall. I kind of wonder what happened to it.

I have to admit to being a little confused. It's a sweet story, sure, but I can't understand why that means it's something you have to keep. He bought it just to have something on the wall when you came over...

If he had chosen it out of his own personal taste and really liked it, then I would think this is a compromise situation and would be a good reason to hang it in your home. But it's big and neither of you particularly like it or how it looks. To me this is exactly an example of the idea that you shouldn't feel like you have to keep something just because of association (it was your grandmother's, your aunt gave it to you, etc.) even when you don't enjoy it. I would've said "Oh! That is sweet ... I love you! Let's go pick something out that we both actually love looking at."

A story is wonderful, but that's just art nobody actually likes.

I don't think a house should be full of mass produced art like it's a showroom, but pieces here or there are fine especially if they have a story and it's inner mixed with unique pieces and photography etc.

You want it to be smaller? So cut it down. Same art, same emotions, smaller size.

art and decoration are two different things... and some might say there is no such thing as mass produced art in the same way my father claims there's no such thing as a short-sleeved dress shirt.

There is a common misconception that original artwork is unaffordable, but there are plenty of art students and emerging artists selling beautiful work at very reasonable prices - if you look for it. Search for art sales and open houses at art colleges and universities, look on etsy, google 'artist' and 'artist collective' in your area, go to an arts and crafts sale on the weekend. Affordable artwork exists, and those who buy it are patrons, not snobs - acquiring something unique while supporting the artist's livelihood. By all means buy a mass-produced photocopy if you truly love it, just don't complain there's no alternative.

So I signed up just to make a comment on this post. I own this exact print, and in my opinion it's amazing. It's technically not mass produced, they only made 100 of them and it was sold exclusively through CB2. Although they are a print, they are each numbered. The artist is a french photographer name Laurent Segretier.

thank you for sharing a good story and nice tip.

a friend in Holland tells me they rent art there, and when they are bored with it it's easy to change.

First of all, great story. And some good suggestions as to how to hold on to the emotion and story of the piece and make is slightly less prominant if so inclined.

Regarding mass produced prints ... I dont think anyone here is complaining about having no alternatives. Some of the more strongly worded comments deal with the fact that several posters came across as dissing mass produced art as crap and not art. Or refering to mass produced prints as "common art". I mean REALLY? I cannot afford to spend $300-400 on a piece of art and that means I am "relegated" to a commoner? Comments like that are off-putting and snobbish to say the least.

Gesso the canvas. Then paint your own abstract, colorful piece over it with acrylics. The you have a unique piece and a good story "behind" it.

Brilliant idea YoNella!

My grandmother was a painter and while her style is pretty basic and tends to be landscapes and florals, I still love that I have actual paintings hanging all over my house! They aren't my style, but they add to the layered history of our life. We also have prints of famous art and I just bought a quirky print on Etsy of a girl knitting next to an octopus (how could I resist?!). I still cherish these oil paintings as a piece of family history and hope that someday my children will too.

As a thought, if you don't like it, add to it. You could add other sentimental images right to the top with paint or glue postcards of places you have traveled to it. Make it YOUR art.

I'm sorry, but I just happen to like what I like, ya know? Whether it's massed produced or an original finger painting by my two year old niece, if it speaks to me and I enjoy seeing it in my space, it's origin has no bearing on how it makes me feel.

Origin and history SHOULD change the way you feel about things. Really, it's what matters most in my opinion. ("Art" is a subjective issue anyway. I recently saw an instillation of wooden clothes pins stuck onto an old cardboard box.) Mass produced or not, if it moves you, it's worthy of your space.

Cute story aside, do you know that this is a collectors' item? You cannot buy it in a store today. This one-time-only limited edition of prints that will not be re-issued - Phantom from French artist Laurent Segretier.