Thursday, September 24, 2009

It's Not Just Art -- It's Personal



These two paintings were done by the Amazing Tori! at age 5 and are referenced below.

I am super-excited about the fact that I purchased some art from Chicago artist MartinJon. I rarely purchase art as it takes me awhile to develop a 'relationship' with a painting or an item that I would like to see hanging on the walls, or adorning a table, in my view day after day. It struck me as I purchased my three new watercolors, that liking the work is only a part of the story for me.

I did a quick inventory of all of the different pieces I have purchased over the past five years or so, and I came to a realization that each piece has a story to tell, beyond just 'I liked it so I bought it.' Here are a few examples:

My daughter has created works that are prominently featured on our walls ('The Old Woman', and 'The Frog' pictured above). They are beautiful works, and if I never told you that a small child had done them you would not know. These are personal for obvious reasons. One of my stories, an art dealer friend of a friend visited our house. Upon seeing 'The Frog' she wanted to know the origin and was stunned to find out that it was created by a child. She wanted to take the painting and feature / sell it in her gallery and was confident that she would get a great price for it. As you can see, we turned down her offer.

I have several pottery pieces from the Seagrove area of North Carolina. We have spent many hours touring this beautiful stretch of North Carolina where the clay is uniquely abundant and colorful to have encouraged hundreds of pottery artists to live, work and show here. Ben Owen is one of the more globally famous of the potters. I have collected a few of his works over the years. On our first visit, Ben was working in his studio; no one else was around, and he was wonderful about showing us how he worked - he talked about the clay and the process. He gave the kids lumps of wet clay to mold and play with. He personalized his work for us in a way that encouraged me to want to have and hold my own.

We have a limited edition print featuring the now demolished 'Duck Inn' in Virgina Beach. The artist was a local to the area and we spent a significant amount of time socializing at the Duck Inn. This is personalized by our knowledge of the artist and more so the place itself.

So after completing my inventory of everything non-functional, that is in my home to bring beauty or inspiration or visual impact, there were only three that had no meaning to me, other than they broke up the wall space on which they hung -- and I could easily replace them with something else -- and probably will at some point.

As for my most recent purchases, I haven't seen them 'in person' yet. I have seen their images on the internet - so I 'like' them. But why these paintings? Why would I purchase these? It turns out that I have developed a 'relationship' of sorts with MartinJon. I follow him on Twitter and read his blog. But that is enough to have a blink on him, that I find him interesting; interesting enough to look at his work, and interesting enough to buy it -- because as it will hang on my wall, I will have a story, beyond 'I liked it so I bought it.'

If you'd like to see the MartinJon works I've purchased, here are the links:
Quiet Moments
http://www.flickr.com/photos/martinjon/3111216212/in/set-72157605144281306/

Magnolia Crossroads
http://www.flickr.com/photos/martinjon/3111216404/in/set-72157605144281306/

Dream Caster
http://www.flickr.com/photos/martinjon/3110384133/in/set-72157605144281306/

1 comment:

  1. I have an original "tori" hanging on my wall as well, and it is my favorite.

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