Name: Brenda Biondo
City: Manitou Springs
State: CO
Comment:
Hi Vicente,
I have a question for your Ask Vicente section: how do you and other designers find out about the fabulous art you use in your interiors? Do you visit a lot of galleries? Check out artist websites? Use art consultants? It’s a question I’ve had for a long time. Thanks!
Vicente Responds:
If you live in New York it’s very easy. Go down to Chelsea or midtown Manhattan and the galleries are by the handful. Sometimes some of my clients have art consultants that help them build their collection and then there are some that have asked me to help them pick photography. Sometimes I walk into a gallery and see an artist that I like so I recommend them to clients whose taste might match the art that I’ve found. There are no hard and fast rules and I always try to be flexible to suit the client’s needs.
Great advice Vicente. I have worked with many interior designers and architectural firms on their projects.
Viewing the interiors or seeing images and having the fabric samples, color palette, etc, can make the creative light shine in choosing or creating the perfect work (s) of art for a space.
Karena
Art by Karena
Great question! I hope you don’t mind if I chime in too. Since I began my creative path to interior design in the art world, helping clients find art is one of the most fun tasks I get to do. I constantly bookmark artists websites every time I see art that I like. That way when a client is looking I have lots of possibilities. Here in Portland, we have nice galleries, but nothing like the selection in New York, so I check out galleries when I travel. I’ve also had the opportunity to design my own commission artwork for clients. That’s been an unexpected pleasure in my career.
I agree with Vincente, there are no rules with art, it is a very liberating thing to put a very modern piece in a very traditional home. Art gives you the freedom to express yourself. I am an interior designer in the mountains of Colorado and we have some great galleries in the Aspen, Telluride and Vail area. These galleries will often ship pieces to you on approval. I think Sante Fe is also a wonderful destination to find art. I also keep many of the galleries from all over the country on my favorites bar and try to sign up for as many newsletters I can to keep up with new pieces that hit the galleries – I envy Vincente being able to walk into all those great galleries in NYC!
My friend owns a gallery in Glasgow and very often interior designers come into choose paintings for clients; she loans them out to them to them for a few days to see if they light a spark in the clients hearts and homes.