What ever I would pay, it would be with one of those novelty oversized checks!

I'd say size definitely matters and depedent on the area of bare wall space in need of art. I have been asking myself this same question about a 6' wide by 8' tall accent wall currently need of a large piece. I have decided to make my own art as well. I also value originals by many talented artists currently selling their pieces, however anything above $200 is out of the question for me, which is a completely unreasonable amount to pay for something that large that I would be proud to have hanging on my walls. With all of the crafty inspiration, resources and how-tos now avaiable online, it took me less than 60 seconds to make this desicion.

I am so glad you're on the case, Sara Rae! I just moved into a new home with 11 feet ceilings and big open space.

I need much bigger art to get that lofty look, but wow does it come at a much, much bigger price!

It seems like large original art costs a significant bit more than smaller. I totally get that bigger pieces take more time and more materials, but there's definitely an opening the market for bigger stuff that's a tiny bit more affordable.

What I want to know is - what are your ideas for making oversized art while keeping the price tag small a la paragraph 1 of your article?!?!

Being that I am an artist, I would gladly pay for a piece I loved if I had the money for it. But sadly, being an artist, I tend to be pretty broke. Try to keep in mind that prices for art are not randomly applied. There's the obvious cost of supplies, which aren't cheap, there's the cost of the artists time, which shouldn't be insulting. Last of all, you're paying market value on the artist themselves, depending on how 'big' they are. It's a product from a professional.

*a handcrafted product from a professional.

Very few people buy artwork specifically as an investment, which assumes you have significant disposable income. Most people buy art because they love it, and the investment part of it comes into play when they want to justify the expensive purchase. Art is worth whatever the market will bear.

I love the large scale art to get that loft look. Most recently I picked up a 60x40" piece from EyesOnWalls.com for over my bed. I think it came to a little under $200 shipped. I also found another 6'x7.5' original painting from a local artist at a consignment shop in Seattle for $400. It's all about keeping your eye open for a deal!

Some hardcore art lovers out there might hate me for saying this, but any accent or piece of furniture in my home has to be there because it serves a purpose and it contributes to the beauty of the space. The same goes for art. That being said, I can't justify paying more for a large piece of wall art than I did for my bed, mattress, and linens combined - or for my sofa - or any other large staple furniture item. That puts it in the "under $1000" category for sure....I love the idea of artists making a great living off of their talent, but my budget doesn't allow me to spend artist prices in most cases.

I bought a painting (no frame) at an import shop for $85. It measures 49" x 39". It was a screaming deal. Art this size makes a big impact on a plain white wall.

I've paid over $1000 for relatively small pieces of art, so it goes without saying that I would pay considerably more something larger.

Art is a major purchase, and not something I do lightly. The bigger the piece, the more it costs, the greater the commitment! I'm all for cheap, diy oversized artwork - it's awesome. But there's something magical about purchasing original art... It feels so wonderful and shiny. Because I'm an artist, there are large paintings all of the house, but I prefer the ones I didn't make.

Does anyone have any good keywords for searching for big art on spots like Etsy and Craigslist?

Ha, seriously, want to stimulate the economy? Put money in an artists pocket and support local goods. Not some corporation printing large scale copies where the artist gets a teeny percentage.

Every year I attend an art school sale, in my case the MCAD art sale in Minneapolis. The students there sell their art and pocket most of the proceeds. We have found large-scale, edgy and well-crafted Art (with a capital A) for under $300. This is very reasonable to me and it goes to a good cause.

art is subjective. what one person might pay for a piece truly is determined by how much you want it..

that being said, there is a lot of 'art' for sale that is greatly overvalued because everyone who picks up some paints and a canvas these days...thinks they are an artist.. and someone has told them they can make a living at it... and so they charge a lot for their art..

however, as to large pieces costing more.. from my perspective comes down to the availability of the materials in the area.. that should be added in as well and buyers should realize that the artist still has to pay for his materials...

for instance, I am currently working on a 4 x 5 foot painting.. and the canvas cost me $149, that doesn't include paint, brushes, gesso, and all the time it takes... as I have sold some of my paintings for more than $400 as a 16 x 20 in.. then wouldn't it make sense that I would charge more for a much larger work?

I mean we don't think twice about paying $300 or more for a cell phone we replace every year or two, or above $500 for a 40 inch tv..

if you don't want to pay a lot for large artworks, then I would suggest paying attention to local colleges where they may have sales of art class works.. or perhaps second hand stores..

Being a photographer I generally wouldn't pay more for someone else's work than I would charge for my own unless the artist was particularly well known.

I am a huge fan of oversized art on the walls of our home. My husband ordered 6 yards of canvas for me and I have made a few pieces for our walls, but I also found a really large photograph that takes up the entire wall in our living room for $150 at Ikea. Not an original, but still pretty.

You can see our art here:

http://chrislovesjulia.blogspot.com/p/house-tour.html

This statement:
..art is subjective. what one person might pay for a piece truly is determined by how much you want it..

renders this one false:
.. there is a lot of 'art' for sale that is greatly overvalued because everyone who picks up some paints and a canvas these days...thinks they are an artist..

just sayin

I guess I don't see what size has to do with it.

Spot on Earth - Size is everything. More money for materials, time.... Paintings are generally priced by the square inch. A 48" x 60" painting takes twice as long to create as one that's only 24" x 30", and the artist requires twice as many materials.

The question should probably be rephrased as 'what percentage of your income would you spend on art'.

Art isn't decor, and it isn't priced by the foot.

That said, I don't have unlimited means. Starting in my 20s I tried to set aside a month's salary every year for art. I didn't always make it, but that was the goal, and I saved up for things I really loved and wanted.

@julia .. if my handwriting was as good as yours.. i would do a poem too. that looks nice.. and i do like the print over the sofa.. wish i had ikea near me.. and the print is nice.. serene and calm..

Another artist here- I make everything from little 4x4" to 48x48" paintings. Galleries (and many clients) frown on arbitrary pricing systems, so most of us artists find ourselves charging by the square inch or a similar system the more we deal with galleries and buyers. In addition to that, the cost of materials and the difficulty of creating the piece in your limited studio space and transporting (or even worse, shipping) those big ones add a lot to the cost. I have a guy selling my stuff for twice as much across the country as I charge locally, and I don't feel bad about that in the least, it's a lot of work to pack them up, and a lot of money to ship them. Which is another good reason to check out your local artists.

I've paid several grand for a tiny Dali. I bought at least $4k worth of original art when I was in HK and brought back something like 8-10 canvases, most of which are 24"x24" or 36"x36". I am also not a fan of lithographs, etchings, or prints. I just don't see the point if I'm spending the money. Art is an investment in something you love.

That being said, if you would rather make your own piece, it's still not going to be cheap. If you can't stretch your own canvas, buying a canvas commercially gets into the hundreds of dollars as soon as you hit 30"x30" and larger, and can be difficult to find at all if you want something bigger than like 48"x72" or something in a nonconventional shape. But I get the urge to DIY. Then it's cool AND it's YOURS!

http://www.lumas.com/?id=723&wid=134&artist=73

I love Lumas... My favorite is Julia Christe's "White Sands" series. The larger prints are under $1K

And yes, Some people spend thousands on their cars... I wouldn't and haven't. Now Art- I will gladly shell out.

@Amygoog- Go for it! Just prime it and you're good to go.

As for how much I'd spend... it depends on what it was and how much i loved it! And how much I could AFFORD to spend. So much goes into pricing art... it really just depends on the piece. I'd pay a lot more for an original from a local artist then I would for a large print of something famous.

check out etsy. They have alot of big original art.

I wouldn't pay a ton of money for original art that goes on the walls (I guess I'm just not a big painting person... I love seeing them in museums and other people's houses but I don't want to see just one picture as the entire focal point of my living room). On the other hand, I'd definitely pay extra for awesome handcrafted pieces of furniture or woodwork or whatever because that's what makes a room for me.

the most i've ever contemplated saving up/spending on a large piece of art was $300. a local gallery was offering 20% off last year, but i still couldn't take the plunge.

there is, however, a local artist that i've been in love with for years, and i've been saving up for a piece of his that's $800...and would have absolutely no problem dropping that kind of money.

i think if the piece suits your taste, can be something you will always love (not just a passing phase) and you can incorporate it seamlessly into any room in your home (this is important for people like me that rearrange all the time), then i think it's totally worth it to spend more than you would normally be comfortable with.

Yeah... I just don't see it. It's actually irrelevant what you spend on materials. The value of art is A) totally subjective and/or B) based on supply and demand. It isn't based on square footage or the cost of paint or supplies or even time. I understand the need for some type of pricing strategy that isn't arbitrary, so of course the artist themselves might try to figure those things in somehow, but please don't make the mistake of thinking that it should matter to the person who is buying your art.

I'm saving up to buy a $25K large scale photograph (70x95). I love a particular photographer's work and I know it would make me happy to look at it everyday. Yes, I could buy a car, but I live in NYC and have no need for one :-)

Interesting conversation, especially since there are some viewpoints I find startling and amazing -- such as that "the size of a work of art has nothing to do with it's value" to some people. Wow. I never imagined people felt that way! It's very obvious to me!

The library where I work has a display of things by three local artists up right now. I love one painting and the artist told me she charges $1 per square inch. (I would get 25% off as a "professional discount" so I'd get her $400 painting for $300, which I really can't afford right now even so...)

I make art, I taught art in a high school, I used to belong to a co-op gallery, and was once an assistant curator in a small art museum. There are a lot of factors in the pricing of a piece of art, but there is ALSO a wide range of what people refer to AS art.

I think people like me who studied art in college have a different definition of "art" from those who merely want decor for their wall space. I think, no offense meant, our standards are higher, our definition more strict, and therefore we are willing to invest more in what we consider "art" than would the person who thinks art includes Spencer's Gifts posters or Home Goods mass produced paintings made in a factory in China.

If you look at art as the quality expression of an individual person's vision, skill, talent, imagination, voice, etc. (as I do) you look for something different in "art" than the person who wants "something blue" to match their sofa. This costs more.

I have a few commercial prints that I especially liked that fit my decor. I don't think of them as "art", just as decoration. Mostly, however, I only buy what I do think of as "real art", hand made unique paintings or drawings (and a few hand pulled prints) by artists, mostly people I have met. I can't afford the Big Names, but I can and do enjoy the work of regionally popular artists.

My largest original painting is about 3'x5' and hangs over my fireplace. I paid $600 for it about 20 years ago, and I still love it. In today's money, I guess it would be over $1000. Other things in my collection I got at flea markets and thrift shops for under $10 each. (Smaller things, of course.) All are original, all are things I like, and all were bargains!

If I wasn't concerned about the authenticity and "the hands of the artist" I would probably hang ethnic textiles (although many of those are artist-made, too) or large commercial prints or many of the other things people on this blog have suggested. I don't have a problem with people making their own "art" to fill a space, either -- although I might argue that it doesn't fit MY defninition of the term. Of course, it doesn't have to.

I will say that buying original art from a professional gallery has usually got a substantial markup attached. They have to cover a profit and their overhead on top of what the artist charges. Most require their artists to not undercut them, though, so even if youbuy directly from the artist, it just works out that the artist gets a bigger profit or that t hey have to fork over to the gallery for the gallery's representation. So those artists cost more than others.

SherryBinNH Well, I don't know that you have higher standards, but I do think that because you went to art school you have been taught to quantify art, even though art is not quantifiable. You said yourself "If you look at art as the quality expression of an individual person's vision, skill, talent, imagination, voice, etc." Well, here's a secret: That's exactly how I've always looked at art despite the fact that I've managed to avoid going to art school. You see, no one had to teach me that. So I still say "what does size have to do with it?" The things that matter are emotion, vision, communication, love and how a work of art makes someone feel. It's about our responses to it. Big, small, triangular, square, costs a lot to make? Art simply can't be reduced to size or cost of materials or other attributes like those. If it could, we'd all be able to afford that Picasso sketch on a napkin.

$250 is the most I'd spend unless the artwork was amazing.
For those looking for good ideas to fill up a blank wall: our living room has 80x24 panorama that was about $200 to make. We took a panoramic photo and cut it into 8x10 pieces with Photoshop. We developed the pictures at one of those 10 minute print shops and framed them in cheap frameless picture frames. A little OCD when hanging the frames (on push pins!) and we have a beautiful full wall of art.

SherryBinNH-
So you think a small Rembrandt should sell for less than a big canvas that a DIYer slapped together for a "pop of color"? :-)

The thing about an original work of art is that it should be meaningful to you. Can you imagine choosing movies the way you suggest choosing art? "I'd really like to see Blue Velvet, but the intense colors clash with my neutral interior. Maybe I'll just get out my video camera and make my own movie that matches..."

Well said Lisa (Montreal)
I hate it when people treat art like a wall filler.... It's true most of us can't afford real art and some others can't really comprehend what it really is.
It's somewhat insulting to me when people spend zillions of money on street bought paintings and really pride in themselves telling everyone how their couch cushions perfectly match the dress on the girl carrying flowers in the painting. Even worst when "art" is valued through physical measure.

@cashew
(... you mean 4x....)

I personally prefer to please myself aesthetically with functional pieces (i.e. furniture) first. More purely aesthetic items take a lower priority, and I would ideally love it. I wouldn't want anything just to fill up a space. I'm patient that way. or I just don't have the eye to identify a space in need of filling. XD

re: cost scaling with size, while an artist needs to cover their investment in a work they've made, I think it's true that it doesn't exactly matter to the buyer who only buys what they love. But it might factor into that buyer's considerations when they very much like a particular artist and are contemplating individual works from that artist that happen to be different sizes.

It's not really "over-sized". It's just large, or huge or extra big. And I'm always a fan so whatever you can afford is what you should pay. Then again, who can afford that much art? Not the masses.

Speaking as an artist here. I wouldn't sell large artwork for less than $1,000. Regardless of the medium.

Creating art is not cheap. As an artist you have to factor in time, materials, rent, accounts, insurance, student loans and everything else that goes into making a living.

Being a working artists is no different that running any other type of business.

When marketing art you have two options. Quantity or quality.

Artists that price work low choose quantity. Quality will inevitably suffer. Or they aren't serious about their career.

Also, when retailing art through personal channels such as an artist website or etsy you need to double your cost for retails so you can offer galleries and other partners wholesale pricing.

Therefore I wouldn't waste my time targeting those with a tight budget.