The Art of Living: From Frieze 16 to your Home

“The Missing Text, Interregnum 2”, 2012/2013 by Stuart Brisley

One can live among the beautiful and the sublime.

How?

You are asking

Firstly one needs to want it.

“The Audience at The Opera Garnier” by Giovanni Boldini (1842-1931)

Beauty is an appreciation of what our eyes/brain defines as pleasant and harmonious.

Sublime is the experience, but not just any experience, it is a mystical one of beauty that is defined by our eyes, brain and soul. It is that third ingredient that makes it at the top of what we, humans, can experience, generating joy and a not possible to measure immense fulfilment.

The key to open that door?

I believe is Art.

“Untitled”, 1989 by Martha Jungwirth

For a work of art to resonate within our bodies it has to be related to us somehow; there has to be a silent communication that allows that “thing” to speak the language of our soul and take it to places one thought did not exist or that one thought did not exist for us.

That is why art can be so powerful.

The beauty and the horror of this though is that there is not a recipe to get to that point of “illumination”, “revelation” or “enchantment”.

Fortunately there is not just one point to get to, there are many like love, peace, joy, ecstasies, relaxation, etc. But choosing the right art is not easy. This is why probably one has heard when some people says that certain kind of art, even the ones considered as the greatest, do not “talk” to them.

“L’Empire des Lumieres”, 1949 by Rene Magritte

Now how this translates to the creation of our homes?

Designing a home must involve the understanding of our motivations, our emotional circumstances and our aspirations related to how we want to experience our home and why.

Having that clarity will make possible the creation of interiors which aim is to talk to us at a deeper level and the consequence of that communication should be happiness, comfort, peace, fulfilment, etc.

The connection is there.. art..home.

There are many tools available for achieving this: the understanding of architecture, the colours, the fabrics, the textures, the lighting, the furniture, the proportions, etc.

But there is one thing, that can accelerate, confirm, express, be the channel or be the means to the realisation of that creation.

I’m talking about ART.

Incorporating art to your interiors or designing your interiors around art can make you experience the sublime.

Art makes us more aware of our surroundings; it makes us think and feel.

So when I started this post with the sentence: the art of living I was having in mind how important, relevant and transcendental can be thinking of your home as a work of art and the imperative of having art in it.

Having both certainly will make of your home a creation and the perfect place to live, enjoy and create.

The beauty and the sublime.

I would like to share with you seven spectacular art works that I saw at Frieze 2016, every one of them creates a world of its own. A world that spoke to me and that made think of spaces where that constant giving and talking are taking place.