Guidlines to Choosing Artwork for your Living Space
Owning a work of art that is special to you is sure to inspire your mood and enrich your life. Textiles and wallhangings, wooden carvings and metallic objects, vases and vessels, china and ceramics, deities and sculptures all constitute artwork. Art makes an expressive focal point and the choice goes way beyond just paintings.
When you want to acquire your special piece of artwork, or to decide where to place it, you may confidently draw on the aesthetic design principles of Feng Shui to help guide and inspire your decision making. Foremost considerations are that you feel a connection and affection for it, that your attention is held meaningfully when you engage with the piece, and that you resonate positively with it.
Artwork that is most likely to complement your living space is ageless, timeless and engaging, with light and shade, action and calmness, superficial interest and deeper layers combining in sensitive yin-yang balance. Use art colour tones to create the connection with your decor. Neutral decor themes will be harmoniously enlivened by complementary accents of brighter hues in artwork. You can also create an aesthetic composition with a well-balanced group of art pieces.
Because fundamentally we need to feel connected with nature, flowers and natural scenes tend to work very well in apartments with no outside space and in urban living spaces. Artwork in your home is meant to feel inspiring, uplifting, happy, romantic, evocative and beautiful. So be sure to avoid impressions of aggression, sadness or loneliness and dull, scary, harsh or ugly imagery.
It is important that your artwork enhances the location where it is placed and that it is in harmony with its close surroundings. Give it adequate space, light and visibility, so that you can fully enjoy looking at it. The addition of strategically positioned, direct or indirect lighting sources and well-placed mirrors will illuminate and augment its beauty. The picture frame is also a component of art, so choose it carefully to complement the subject, its tones and textural elements.
Owning a special piece of artwork that you treasure is so emotionally fulfilling, because our response to art is expressed from the heart. Choose yours with love on a day when you feel happy. And you can draw on these Feng Shui guidelines to help you make your choice.
Watch Sylvia’s Artwork Video at Christie’s