Sunday, October 15, 2017

The importance of framing

Every now and then I get the chance to show my work in Belgium, one of our neighbor countries. Great people. They like (and sometimes buy) my work and that makes me very happy. But lately I'm getting the impression they got a thing with frames. More and more Belgian buyers like to purchase their paintings unframed. Gallery owners can't stress enough they have no objections if you drop off your work unframed.

I'm not sure what the reason is, but I hope it doesn't spread. The purpose of a frame is not only aesthetic, it's for protection as well. The surface of my paintings consists of very thin layers of paint that easily damage, a bit like enamel, so I want them to be properly framed.

And to be honest, I like my paintings better when they're framed. Frames are a visual buffer between the painting and it's surroundings. The picture below shows the standard frame I use for my work, a so called 'floater'. It's a simple frame that underscores the landscape format of the painting and says: "This might be a realistic painting, but it's still a work of a contemporary artist."




And here's the same painting in it's actual frame. The Edgartown Art Gallery (where it's currently on display) asked me to ship it unframed, so they could choose a frame that matches the atmosphere of the gallery as a whole. An old English kinda feel. I went for the experiment, curious as I was how my work would look in a totally different frame and I was pleasantly surprised. It looks great with the wonderful warm-cold color contrast between the frame and the painting. 




If you want to take a closer look at it, please go to my website www.paintingskies.com. It's the first painting that comes up in the Portfolio section (at least for now). When you hit the 'detail' button below the picture, guess what happens...


Rain Clouds, oil on panel, 5.9 x 19.7"

4 comments:

  1. frame is holy grail of the picture...

    ReplyDelete
  2. The wrong frame can certainly bring a good painting down. A bad painting on the other hand can't be saved by a frame, no matter how good it looks.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Een herkenbaar verhaal.
    Een kunstschilder kiest een lijst rond het schilderij om het als geheel tot zijn recht te laten komen.
    Daarom zou het als koper/galerie altijd best zijn de originele lijst rond het werk te laten. Kijk bijvoorbeeld naar het programma "Het geheim van de meester" waar ze op zoek gaan naar een replica van de originele lijst. Need I say more?
    Eens het schilderij uit het atelier is heb je helaas niet altijd alles meer in de hand en begint zo'n schilderij met, of zonder lijst, een eigen leven te leiden.
    Beste groet,
    Wim

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ik denk dat je gelijk hebt Wim. Ik heb lang gezocht naar de goede standaardlijst voor mijn werk en ik ben uiteindelijk bij deze simpele, donkere baklijst met een 'zilveren neusje' uitgekomen. Andere lijsten waren te massief, te licht of te donker enz. Toch vond ik de lijst die de Amerikaanse galerie er omheen heeft laten zetten wel verrassend.

    ReplyDelete