To buy an original work of art from a top contemporary artist to display in your home, you can either visit an international auction house or arrange for a private viewing appointment at a showroom in London, Paris, Tokyo or New York. The champagne and amuse-bouches will be free, but make sure you bring plenty of money.
For considerably less effort and expense, you can now visit a pop-up shop, an online store, or a department store where you can also buy an original item from a top contemporary artist to decorate your home or living space. Contemporary artists and creative 21st century trendsetters are shifting their focus beyond galleries and museums into living rooms, lounges, bedrooms and kitchens. This emerging wave of artist-branded items, homewares and decorative pieces is making an impact on the world of interior design and the decorators, interiors designers and urban art lovers who are in the know.
Artists and estates licensing the copyright of their images to merchandising partners and manufacturers is nothing new. What is new is the visibility of the artists in the current group, plus the demand from market savvy buyers which shows that making even a small art based purchase now can be both aesthetically pleasing and have great(er) investment value later on. Also new are the type of items contemporary artists are creating. Long gone is the cheesy artist pencil set and 11x17 museum shop poster. In their place are imaginative, cool, functional and collectible art objects that are expanding and redefining the design and decor universe. For those looking to bring modern art into their everyday world, update a room, decorate a space or simply acquire a special piece to appreciate and use, Intimate + Fidel presents a roll call of a few of the top artists today and a run down of the items you can currently buy.
Japanese Pop Art master Takashi Murakami has breathed new life and relevance into the humble pillow and throw cushion via his multicolour smiley-face sunflower and octopus interpretations. Plushie style items were previously assigned to toddler and infant spaces. Murakami’s versions have been discovered by a new, mature audience which has given them a more featured decorating role. The pillows change hands on eBay and other online sites for between $200 to $1000, depending on size, and can be found worldwide in the most adult of rooms and locations.
English superstar Damian Hirst is notorious for his shocking creations like sharks and cows suspended in formaldehyde and his cold, menacing diamond Mayan skull, For The Love of God. Turning his focus to the home...and using a more gentle expression, Hirst has produced a range of delicate butterfly printed deckchairs, and even more unexpectedly, a collection of decorating wallpapers, one with a kaleidoscope of insects and another of oddly soothing everyday over-the-counter pharmacy pills. The price? $324 USD per 33 foot roll.
No list of contemporary artists would be complete without the presence of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Moving away from dorm posters and t-shirts, and offering a modern take on dinnerware, the Haitian American artist’s cracked-out two dimensional images have now landed in fine style on the Yoox.com eCommerce website. Among the available items that take dining to the next level are AAA Limoges crafted $169 espresso sets, plates from $97, and a series of centre piece trays at $145.
Still a highly elusive figure after 25 years, Banksy is a folk hero and cult art celebrity across the world. His mostly black and white stencil pieces have seemingly magically appeared overnight on walls, buildings and murals on almost every continent. An expert marketer, Banksy’s most recent project is a pop-up shop and online store called Gross Domestic Product. Among the items available for sale: wall clocks featuring stencilled rats, £500, a glitterball police helmet, £500, a now trademark shredded t-shirt of Girl Releases Balloon, £35, slogan chair and couch cushions, £150, a welcome mat with an attached life vest, £500, a plain brick with pink leather handles, £750, a panel of 3 gold framed pictures, also £750, a baby chandelier covered in surveillance cameras and repurposed Nike and Adidas t-shirts. As expected from an artist with his skill, notoriety and social media clout, (6.7 million Instagram followers) all the items were completely sold out within minutes.
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