Is Street Art Just For a Hipster's New York Lofts?
Like all art and interior styling you could ask this question to 100 if not 1,000 different people and get the same number of differing opinions! But it is interesting that as Street Art has moved over the past 20 years from solely being on the street into the home environment, how people have incorporated it into their collections and lifestyles.
Here is a quick look at some pieces from my own collection and how I have integrated them into my family home without breaking the bank.
A lot of street-based work has a real vibrancy and energy and this can work really well in the home setting, providing focus and intrigue to different areas. Here I have a commission piece from the very talented Said Kinos. I met Said painting this piece at POWWOW Rotterdam in 2019 and after striking up a friendship commissioned this canvas called 'Nothing In Particular'.
A grey background (Farrow & Ball 'Railings' in this case!) is a really great way to offset colourful works and make them pop right off the wall. You can see to the left and the right I have framed work, one a similar text based piece by Ben Eine, and the other a much more subdued work by Antony Micallef. Juxtaposing and grouping artworks is easy as the chaotic styles of many street pieces mean they can sit well together and provide harmony in their similarities and their differences.
At the heart of any family home ... is obviously children...and mess! I love the fact my boys get to hang out with lots of the artists that we work with and have an interest in what I do. I think it is very important to let them follow their own loves and expose them to as much as possible so they can find their own passions.
Here amongst the teddy bears, lego and general chaos we see my youngest Otto posing proudly with his Stik prints and his most prized 'original' work on cardboard by long time street legends 'The Toasters'. It adds a fun element to a child's room and is something I hope to see them take with them through life, both the physical pieces and the love of exploring new art.
Cost should never be a barrier either. Much as I would love to tell you these Stik pieces are limited edition prints, they are simply posters from his amazing book. There are plenty of ways to get the art you love on the walls you inhabit and not break your bank.
Prized possessions are an inevitable part of any collection and mine has to be this canvas by my good friend and collaborator Eine. The glitter backed canvas in his iconic 'Circus' Font is a real attention grabbing work and I can honestly say that I interact with it and enjoy owning it every single day of my life. This is the heart of the matter when purchasing art, buy what you love and it will never let you down.
Due to our love of art, a lot of our walls are base colour only, letting the works stand out and do the talking, maybe paired with something like this fun fur gorilla lamp.
On the other end of the scale, this is a small lenticular postcard framed in a metal box frame. It sits on a sideboard with various ornaments and plants providing further visual delights to the vista. Not expensive, very effective, and easy to implement. Grouping small pieces together, either with other objects or several pieces of artwork, can be a really effective way of building up an area of your home into a mini gallery space just for you!
Another family favourite on our kitchen island is our Kaws mini figures. Bringing the art off the walls and into the home in another form is also a great way of spicing up the way people interact with and view the art you love.
So there we have it, a whistle stop tour of some of the pieces in my home and the thought processes behind why they are there! Make your home your gallery, but never be put off by lack of budget, lack of knowledge and lack of inspiration. There is an amazing world of art out there, jump in!