apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Coup de foudre! I fell in love with his work at first sight. It's textural. It's emotional. It's structural. I now have more than one piece (and it's possible to pay in installments...his prices are rising) so that's why I recommend Guy Stanley Philoche whose url is above. Very powerful work. The way most paintings are done, there is no need for framing, you just need a wall.

I'm slowly building a collection of artwork purchased from the artists camped out in Union Square. They all seem to draw on similar subject matter of figures, architecture and botanicals. Collecting them all in my home recreates my favorite feeling of being outdoors in city parks.

I'm developing a collection of general outdoorsy photography that I have accumulated from art fairs. It's really fun because you can haggle and get deals and still feel like you're supporting independent artists. Sucks finding frames though.

And I just gave in and bought a copy of that Keep Calm and Carry On poster from a little British bookstore online. We'll see how I can fit that in.

One of my favorite artists these days is a Boston-Based artist. AmyRoss.com
She shows nationally.

She does these magical drawings of nature scenes where animal's and nature converge. Was at her opening at Allston Skirt Gallery in Boston.

Check her out.
AbbeyK
www.AbbeyK.com

I buy a lot of art from etsy.com. I also have done swaps with people on Flickr, where in exchange for access to print a high-res photo I like, I print them a copy as well and mail it to them.

Andrea Marshall is a recent Parsons grad (in fashion design) who produces really beautiful prints, as well. I got Lola 12 for Christmas and am so thrilled. (Click my name for a link to her site.) They're mostly line drawings of women, un-, partially- or fully-dressed, with limited but excellent use of color.

OOPS! Guy's website is philochestudios.com

I'm an artist, so I have some of my own work on my walls, as well as a random collection of whatever images have struck our fancy recently. I'm very fond of vintage pinup or glamor art. I also inherited a couple of pieces from my grandparents. The most personally interesting to me is a large Arnold Roth print, signed to them, that used to hang in their house on Long Beach Island. It's a very detailed cartoon of Leonardo Da Vinci auditioning a line of men for his "Perfectly Proportioned Man" drawing. The matting is flecked with what are probably spots left by the salt air, and possibly some flies - it was there for decades. I used to stare at it as a child, and I love seeing it in my home.

Steve Lampasona is a tribeca-based realist
extraordinaire who makes his living selling
his paintings and sculpture, and has
built his own high quality furniture
(check out the truck paintings from
the links on the right under "portfolio"):
www.lampasona.com

Kate,
Andrea Marshall's prints are amazing...do you know what their approxiamate size and price are?

There is actually a lot of fantastic and affordable art you can get at www.etsy.com I have a few prints purchased from there myself.

Kristen- Aren't they great? I'm so in love with mine....I just hung it above my desk this morning and it makes me very happy. They are about 11" x 14", so not very big. I'm not sure about price but I am guessing about $300? She's pretty good on email!

I love the work of Dana Boettger. In fact, I like it so much that I approached her to design a site for her to help spread the word. You can see her artwork at dboettger.com. I own five pieces of hers (Waiting, Sleepless Nights, New Language, and two that aren't on the site.)

I get comments on them all the time--if you like abstract art, she's very reasonably priced and can ship world-wide.

I love prints from Hatch Show Print in Nashville, "the oldest working letterpress shop in America." You have to go to their actual shop for the full experience and the best selection, but they have some posters available for sale online (click on my name for the website).

Interesting question. As I do a mental inventory of what's on my walls, it's mostly stuff we've created. I didn't realize it til now. My husband and I are both photography enthusiasts (me more in the past and he is currently), so we have framed photos we've taken hanging in our foyer, powder room, living room, family room, hallway, guest room and my office.

We also have an amazing pen and ink drawing that we got in Savannah back in the late 90s, which hangs in our kitchen, and our dining room wall sports the framed nudes of myself that I had done a few years ago. So almost 100% of our wall art was either created by us or *is* one of us.

By the way, if anyone can tell me ANYTHING about David Oster, I'd love to know it! He is the artist we met in Savannah and bought the pen and ink from and the guy has absolutely dropped off the face of the earth. He has such a distinctive style and I'd LOVE to get another of his pieces, but heck if I can track him down. Thanks if anyone knows him or has heard of him.

Monica Ricci -- I googled "david oster" art, and came up with a couple of hits that mentioned a pen and ink artist in Utica. Says he likes to do pen and ink drawings of local landmarks. Could it be the same one?

To answer the "what's on your walls" question, mainly I have wildflower and wildlife (animals, not parties) photos taken by my father, and a couple of landscape oil paintings, one by a friend and one by a relative. I like to have a real connection to what I put on my walls. It's not "cool" or stylish, but it's what resonates with me.

I love the artists who are represented on novica.com, and I have personally purchased one painting from Ghana via the website. The site also sells decorative mirrors and other types of artwork. Most of my stuff is ethnic (mainly African), in addition to my photos and a few memorabilia items. As for frames, I have been very pleased with Americanframe.com. The prices are amazing, and the quality is excellent. They give you a free mat, plus all of the hanging supplies.

I do my own photography so I've got several of my own "Cowscapes" series, as well as some art from etsy.com, which is a great resource for cheap, handmade pieces

I sell my Cowscapes too, so click on my link to see 'em

I curate art on the internet. I think that any image might speak to you, be it on Flickr's most interesting or Worth 1000 photoshop contest. Find the stuff that you think is powerful and save it.

Professional artists tend to more consistently create great work, but amateur artists (millions of them!) are on the net, right now, toiling away to produce imagary that is every bit as powerful and valuable as the over-commercialized stuff.

On the issue of framing costs....

I usually get my artwork professionally matted, and ask them to keep the outside of the (acid free) mat to a standard size. Then I buy a standard-sized frame somewhere else, more cheaply. Custom matting is much cheaper than custom framing.

Having enough artwork for the walls is never been my problem, since my mom and I both paint! I also have some stuff by local artists, b/c I was pretty connected to that community at one time. And I like to hang up things like electric guitars, sculptural objects, etc.

As a photographer, I'm interested in getting my work shown more often and collected. Please let me know if you have any good ideas...
My color landscape photographs of my travels through Norway, Iceland, China, Hong Kong, and lots of other countries are 11x14 and 30x40 digital chromogenic prints from scanned negatives. They are currently available for sale through me. Thx.
http://www.ronachang.blogspot.com/

Your welcome, Nisha!

If you are really into lots of framing, you can buy your own mat cutter that works on a guide rail system, so you get the perfect, angled edge each time. You can probably get something in the $100 range. Here are some examples from Dick Blick:

http://www.dickblick.com/categories/matcutters/

I bought a mat cutter at a really great art supply sale once, thinking I would eventually find the rail to fit with it. But I never did....

This is close to what I had:

http://www.dickblick.com/zz171/20/