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I’m considering if there’s a way to have some artwork that is swapped out seasonally at home. Say, for example, between when the clocks change each year, though perhaps not fully on the nose (Christmas, Easter, etc). What do you think?
It can be jarring to look around at dim, dark art on the walls as the sun begins beaming through one’s windows for longer days and light evenings. At home, I’m often moving furniture and objects around the house. This is not so much a seasonal thing, it’s more about wanting to experiment when the mood takes me.
Plus, as mentioned in previous columns, I have a bit of an addiction to buying stuff at auction, the result being home can become a merry-go-round with objects appearing, staying somewhere for a bit, then moving to new spots when the fancy takes hold.
When it comes to artwork, often I buy paintings, drawings and prints that I like, knowing I’ll find a spot for them later. A recent purchase, for example, is a small ink on gesso panel by a favourite artist, Ed Kluz. It’s so tiny that it’ll find a new home quickly.
On the other hand, I also buy pieces to fit certain walls, and it might take me a while to find one with the perfect dimensions. Once I’ve gone to the bother of hanging a larger painting or drawing — particularly in a sitting or dining room, where I’m more precise about the display — and I’m happy with its location, I probably won’t want to replace it just a few short months later.
Upstairs in our bathrooms and bedrooms, I do occasionally move drawings and prints around, because these works are smaller and the hang is more haphazard (the gaps between pictures are not at all equal) — just how I like it.
In regards to how to go about swapping works around: how about giving a bit of structure to your plan — you could, for example, think about supporting a different emerging artist with each season?
There are plenty of places to shop, but if you’re interested in emerging artists, there are some particularly interesting ports of call that I suggest investigating. Partnership Editions aims to make art accessible to everyone — with prices from as low as £55 — and works collaboratively with several very interesting emerging artists. Scrolling through its website, I’m drawn to Philip Maltman’s works on canvas in particular. Maltman’s aim is to “dictate the contents of a painting through manually working the paint, rarely allowing the paint to work too much by itself through technical experiment”.
I don’t want to be too literal or obvious about dressing your walls for the seasons, but if you do want to switch things up, it does make sense to me to consider what’s going on outside your windows. Maltman’s “September” series of paintings, for example, is full of beautiful, rich autumn colours. As you mention, you don’t need to be on the nose with your rotations, but subtly using the works on your walls to hold up a mirror to the changing seasons could be satisfying.
The London gallery 8 Holland Street is a place that I turn to often, and is another great supporter of talent. Recently I’ve been eyeing up Anthony Banks’s work. Born in 1988, his output draws from the British landscape, and, interestingly, his paintings can be a decade old until he has “gauged that the marks are finally there — finally done”. The paintings are “landscapes of repair and restoration, collections of moments that are built slowly and given time to settle”. His “Lake with View” is a springy beauty, full of bold mark-making and soft, watery hues.
Alternatively, it might be fun to divide and rotate works considering subject matter and period. I remember a couple of years ago feeling tired of a particular dark, brooding portrait, and my mood lifting after I replaced it with a much brighter still life — this was something I had stashed away somewhere, awaiting its moment in the limelight.
Answering this question of living with artworks seasonally reminded me immediately of Peter Hone, the great plaster caster, who (if I remember correctly reading about this somewhere) used to move out of his London “winter bedroom” in the spring and into his drawing room or “summer bedroom” at the front of his garden square flat, which included at its back a rather grand four-poster bed. This concept of living at home seasonally — enjoying different lights, refreshing and re-energising the mind — is one that appeals. Moving oneself as well as individual artworks and objects — why not?
If you have a question for Luke about design and stylish living, email him at lukeedward.hall@ft.com. Follow him on Instagram @lukeedwardhall
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