the Art of displaying art:

The Modern Gallery wall

Image found on Flickr

There is an inextricable link between art and interiors...

There is no doubt Art is personal....it is what speaks to you, a visual expression of your tastes and personality . And choosing to display art in your home adds a feeling of confidence in your interiors and in who you are!

There are art to suit all tastes and budgets, the introvert and the extrovert, the subtle and the bold...Art can be detailed, figurative, expressive, abstract or stylist....photography, paintings, textiles, graphics and typography...Old or new....Small or large, displayed in groups on a gallery wall ,or a single piece on a blank wall...It is not just the art itself that adds to the personal expression in your home, but also how you display it: Do you like to structure your home and display art in an orderly and synchronized  manner? Or do you casually lean your paintings against the wall, dotted around in a seemingly chaotic fashion? Maybe a bit of both??

So over the next couple of weeks I am exploring Art in the interiors, and how they are displayed as part of the interiors...
today I will be focusing on the modern GALLERY WALL.

Image from Purple area

My very talented, interior blogger friend, Kimberley Duran of Swoon worthy argued in her latest post that she fears it is the beginning of the end for the Gallery wall, and that the trend has had it's day...
...I can kind of see her point,as I too are longing for a fresh take on displaying art.
 But I am here to tell you that the gallery wall is evolving: It is no longer the old fashioned black and white family photo wall...
The old rules of the gallery wall has been thrown out, and it's reincarnation is here to stay....and change, again and again!

The gallery wall has some great benefits, and is a fantastic way to showcase your tastes and display your favorite pieces.
 Displaying a collection of art together in groups will maximize the impact of your art in the room as well as filling your empty walls ...it can easily be changed up, by replacing or adding/taking away pieces...so it is a great way to refresh your interiors on a regular basis.

But this is old news....

...what's new is the mix of the art we display and the way that we do it!

Mixing up pieces with different medias: Oil paintings and drawings, photography with abstract graphics, posters and canvas...even magazine clippings or postcards taped directly onto the wall will help create a more fresh, modern and eclectic feel to the gallery wall.

But I feel the tried and tested ways of creating traditionally successful gallery walls still work....it is just a matter of putting them together in a fresh new way:

Image via Engelta

Grouping together similar pieces...

Image via House of pictures

Or using the same color frames to tie the look together...

Image via A merry mishap

Or grouping pieces with a limited colour palette....

All of these still have their merit.

The number one thing to consider when you want to create a successful gallery wall , is the composition

The old rule of the gallery wall was that when hanging your art, you should work from the center outwards: Imagine an axis going vertical and horizontal and try to balance the pieces equally on each side.

Forget that!!
As long as there is balance throughout with size and color and you also consider the negative space within and around your display, the "New" gallery wall will be fresh and modern:

Image via Trende

 And do consider the surroundings: The buildings architecture ....even the furniture....Make your display go all the way to the floor or ceiling...build it around a sofa or armchair...

Image via Design or breakfast

Simply by following the lines of the  building or furnishings, your art display become part of the interior in a more meaningful way. Like the way the lower line of the art displayed in the image below hints to the shape of the stairs in front.

Image via Sf girl by bay

A gallery wall of art can be as full or as bare as you'd like, and the power of negative space on your wall should not be underestimated, and in it's modern reincarnation less is more:

Image via My Scandinavian home

By displaying just a few, similar pieces together on a big blank wall, the expression is modern and clean, and the attention of the viewer is more focused.
But it doesn't need to look too structured, you can still add an element of surprise in the arrangement of the display, or by mixing in a totally different piece...

Image via coco Lapine

Or by adding another unusual twist, like they've done in the image below:

Image found on woon schrift

Another way to make your gallery wall more current, is to hang your art off center.

Hanging a collage of artwork, so that it travels across the wall at different heights has the advantage of using negative space as well as adding an element of surprise, helping creating a fresh take on the gallery wall.

Image from Anya adores

Or just a minimal gallery wall to the side of furniture, ie a sofa or a bed, like below. This will help balanse out the visual interest in the room in a way that centralising the art above the furniture won't.

Image via My Scandinavian home

If you want to create a minimal art collage in your home, choose to display an odd number of pieces, to avoid it looking too synchronized and structured...although it can do, as seen below:

Image via cocola pine design

Unless , of course, that is the look you're going for...

Image via the aestate

If you are a fan of the more structured look, Displaying similar art in odd numbers will form a more syncronised art gallery...keep it fresh and modern by positioning the collage in a surprising spot on the wall...Maybe off center to your sofa, or low on a large wall, as seen above.

Image via nordic days

Or by leaning a collection on a picture ledge....

....which brings me nicely on to Leaning and layering art:

Image from Cleo Scheulderman, instagram

This is a more relaxed and modern version of the old gallery wall...

...but that's a subject for another post! ;)

I think the gallery wall is a very useful tool to decorating a home and using art to display your personality, and I hope that this post will convince you to not quite give up on it yet... (Kimberley;))

I think that this minimalist evolution of the gallery wall will give it longevity and that it will co-exist with some more modern ways of displaying art...

In my next post I will talk about a slightly more relaxed approach to displaying art, namely leaning and layering....before finally delving into the trend of huge one off pieces for maximum impact!!