Name: Melanie C.
Location: Park Slope, Brooklyn
Website:
All Other Entries: Link Here
I don't have much money to spend on art, so most of my works are modest in scale and many of them are editions. I can't really pay over $1000 for a piece. Most shown here are things I spent $500 or less (or they were gifts).
My ideal situation is to hang work so that it leads to a moment of discovery and reflection. I also want art that's interesting enough that I can think about it over a long period of time--something that keeps bringing up different connections and emotions. Most of the time I like works to hang on their own so that they aren't overwhelmed and have a chance to really engage the viewer.
One of my favorite moments is near the front door. I have a Haim Steinbach limited edition that came from the New Museum of Contemporary Art. It's two hands and so they wave hello or goodbye to whoever comes into the apartment.
I've bought several works from not-for-profit art organizations. They often have limited editions and/or auctions for fundraisers and you can often get interesting works by cool artists. For instance, Flux Factory just announced there February auction and they have works by Sol Lewitt, The Royal Art Lodge, and Andrea Deszo that will probably go for prices well under those found in galleries.
Over my couch in the living room I currently have a Jimmy DeSana that I picked up from Art Resources Transfer. I love this photo. It's a beautiful print of two pairs of legs sticking out of a duffel bag. Art Resource Transfer sell on E-bay and they are great to deal with. If you live in NYC you can drop by their office to pick up your purchase.
On the way into my kitchen I have a wonderful Jean Shin photograph that was a gift from the artist. It's mounted on a thin sheet of steel, so it looks great as you approach it. It's an image of sinks lined up on the Bowery and I've juxtaposed it with my own wall of cluttered appliances. For me, it makes the wall visually humorous and interesting.
We have a second floor landing that leads into two family bedrooms. I've chosen to place to Dennis Oppenheim editions that he created in the early 70s. They are based on the conceptual video works he did with his own family. One, Go-Between, shows him, his wife and two children in a 20-minute fist fight. The other, Feedback, features the artist tracing obscenities on his daughters bare back. The pieces are difficult for most people, but I love them here in this private hallway. It always makes me reflect on the intimate underbelly of family dynamics. I picked these works up on ebay.com from Stil-American Fine Arts (stilamerican).
On the stairway up to the roof deck, I've installed a very small work by Marion Wilson. Most people "discover" this one as they climb the stairs. During the day it's nicely lit from the skylight above. These small sculptures sell at a very reasonable price through Cheryl Pelavin Gallery.
Over the bed in the bedroom, I've placed a work by Lorna Simpson that features two glass wishbones. Although my headboard is in pretty sad shape and needs to be replaced, I haven't quite gotten to it because I love how the color of the fabric goes with the plate glass on the right side of the triptych. The glass is inscribed, "Clearly if you get what you wished for you know you'll end up wanting another wish."
Thanks! I'm a huge apartment therapy fan.
Melanie C.
Veronica & Keith's Handmade Chic 
The World's Ugliest Condo: The Big Bathroom Reveal 
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Hunslet Dinner Plate
A Beginner's Guide to Superb Stir-Fry: Quick, Healthy Meals from a Wok
Homesteaders' Cocktail Recipe: Lovage Simple Syrup
Comments (15)
Sporty Spice is it?
ha.
All very nice pieces but I like the Bowery sinks the best.
ditto rr -- Bowery sinks are great!
It is somewhat hard to compare these apartments and their artwork equally when some people have exceeded the 2 picture (or close to it) limit. It seems that it would give an unfair advantage.
While I really like the artwork in this apartment, it seems that I would want to see only the two best pieces or scenes so that all apartments were on equal playing ground so that I could judge fairly.
If we are to use many pictures to make our judgements (as opposed to just 2), perhaps some of the other less photographed apartments could add some photos to their entry?
me three on the sinks, and that Lorna Simpson!
Really nice collection, really well placed, and an excellent description of how you got there,
Now I want more close ups, of the art in the stairs and over the couch!
All around excellent entry for this contest, Melanie C.
bee,
I know I'd like to see more rather than less from everybody (or whatever amount they wanted to show)
and think about this less in terms of Judging A Contest and more about Seeing Places and Art.
yeah, but I agree with bee... rules is rules, especially when the rules even out the playing field somewhat...
But Melanie-- thanks for letting us in, and OHMYGOD I love that glass wishbone piece!!! SO very jealous.
I couldn't resist sending in a number of photos. since the works are pretty spread out, it's hard to give a sense of how a person experiences the art in the space without several shots. That being said, I did offer to have Maxwell choose two shots to put up (I was having a hard time trimming it down to two myself).
Anyway, thanks for the comments. I see so much great stuff on this site all the time (including some amazing art this month) and it's a pleasure to have my own stuff shown here!
I had to vote no to the interior/artwork combo. While most of the works are eye-catching, the photographs that show them in the scale of the rooms they inhabit are unflattering. I don't like the sofa, the swichplate-intercom-thermostat or the bedspread (while I really like the pieces under and over them, especially the unlauded throw pillow) and the juxtapositions are distracting. It may be due to my preference for viewing contemporary art in museum or gallery settings, or it may be that I am (unfairly?) accustomed to highly-styled (i.e., magazine) interior photographs.
That said, the collection is very interesting and I hope that it continues to build as sensibly and personally as it has begun. Delightful, too, are the frank admissions of budgetary constraints; all too often, I feel shut off from the purchasing route for financial reasons. Cheers to Melanie for making the decision to collect!
I adore that little glass thing!
I think I didn't quite understand how to approach this contest... I only sent in one tiny part of my art collection because I thought it was to show the "best use" of art in creating a whole, happy room... but it seems like most people are showing us their whole collections all over the house.
I love all of the art we are seeing and how much people love their art. But I also agree with bee, that as a contest this could get to be a little too apples-and-oranges for me to be able to make a decision on who to vote for! Should I vote for my favorite painting? or my favorite painting + room? or + entire house?
us rabbits are so easily confused. :)
but melanie c., I do love your collection. you have a lot of great pieces and I totally agree with your philosophy of placing pieces where people can "discover" them. It's similar to why I like really tiny art; you have to get up really close to it to discover what it's all about.
i'm still a bit jet-lagged and travel sore, so wasn't sure if the tone of my previous post was brattier than was intended. it wasn't intended to be bratty at all!
Total applause for the submitter for collecting on a budget. The way the goodies are hung... sometimes it's effective, and sometimes the piece is too small to be alone and/or too far from the furniture it relates to. I like seeing the art interacting with the decor (that's the difference between "home" and "gallery" after all), but want to see things act as a cohesive unit.
If molly bolts and plans for future acquisitions are involved, I sympathize! Having gotten by with nails so far, I move stuff around frequently. (Asked the building manager for the color/brand of the paint, so I touch up a lot.)
I like the way things are "discovered," and kudos for collecting on a budget. That, after all, is how the real world works! I do, however, agree with Wende's comment about interacting with the decor.
Melanie--
You do seem to be drawn to smaller works... just curious, but is that budget-related (ain't no shame in that if so!), or is there something else about the scale you are drawn to? You have a great eye (and fairly gutsy-in-a-good-way taste, even reflected in these smaller pieces... I don't find this to be a "safe" collection at all) that I think would work even at a much larger scale, and could really provide a great note of counterpoint to your smaller-scale work.
Reminds me of a lesson in my first RISD life-drawing class... my amazing professor looked at a stack of my decent-but-tight little drawings and told me to get a bigger pad, a chunkier piece of charcoal, and told me to "draw with your arm, not just your hand." Huge breakthrough for me, in many ways.
I love the tiny transparent piece on the stairs. I'm a big fan of people who can bend the scale rules successfully. Really a great collection. And it's really hard to photograph this stuff well.
The voting thing should not let you vote until you see the "more". I love this more than my vote reflects.