Personal photos of family and friends are meaningful photos traditionally printed and framed for display on the walls of family homes. When you feel like a change of scenery is needed, art prints are an affordable way to switch things up. Trouble is, art is subjective, and without understanding the nuances involved in what’s behind the artwork, you are likely to end up with prints that only add a splash of colour to your walls, rather than anything meaningful.
For a quick sprucing up using a change of framed prints in any room, you may opt for what looks like art prints from big box suppliers, with no idea who created it or even if it is a print reproduction originally created by an artist, by hand, or generated by a piece of computer software.
There is something personal about art, but it isn’t always instant to everyone. Some people never get it, yet feel they are missing something. That something is often a little privacy. Something that speaks to you, evokes you emotionally and possibly provokes memories that only you would recognise when you look at the piece.
As an example, a good friend may move to a different city or even overseas. Rather than hanging a personal photo on your wall that would likely look out of place to visitors, a panoramic print of the area they moved to may be a more fitting piece. To everyone else looking at it, they would just think, it’s London (as an example). When you view it though, you may wonder how they are getting on.
Even a print or a painting of a musical instrument could be moving to you but foreign to others viewing it. Those types of art are the simplest to understand because you really don’t need to. All that matters is that it is meaningful to you.
Times change and your taste in art will progress too, provided you look. When you broaden your horizons, approach artwork and the artists behind the pieces, you will begin to become more familiar with art vocabulary, artists’ motivations, and their techniques. Those are areas where you can really immerse yourself in various art forms, developing your own taste in art that moves you.
Where and how do you explore art?
At art galleries, art fairs, and art exhibitions and by connecting with artists online. Viewing their website, galleries/portfolios, reading their biography (often an about page explaining their processes and motivations), what their style is, and more specifically, the artist’s niche you are drawn to.
What are artist niches?
Art is an industry. Artists differentiate themselves within the industry by specialising in a specific type of art. That is their niche. It is their expertise. Some will be abstract artists, some photographers selling prints, others focusing on watercolour landscape paintings, and others experts at portrait drawings.
Another way artists specialise is by becoming an expert in a specific medium within their niche by sticking to the same materials.
Materials used by artists include:
- Charcoal
- Pencil
- Chalk
- Acrylic paint
- Watercolours
- Ink
- Pastels
Each has distinct appearances. A pastel nautical art drawing will have a much different look from a nautical art painting created using watercolours or acrylic paint.
It takes time and a lot of looking at different works to refine and define your taste in art. The more you look around at different pieces created by different artists, the better you will identify with your personal taste in art.