New Presentations of My Yearly Artworks

For quite a while, I've been thinking of presenting my works in a more finished fashion, with all my works framed.  However, it is a costly endeavor to frame all my works; and if a work is sold, the buyer might want to put a new frame to suit his or her own taste, so I settled with virtual framing.

Working backwards, I started with current year and last years' outputs.  For each work, I framed it with at least two kind frames and then chose one set of them to be incorporated into a long scroll, so as to present those works created in one single year in a setting almost like a gallery or museum.

Below are three paintings and their alternative frames:










And the final assembly of my paintings and installations completed in 2013 and 2012 are:


2013

 
2012


Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst:
- First Painting Completed in 2013
- Unexpected Successes of "Stringed White Dresses - An Installation"
- "White Dress" Series Continues - A New Drawing and a New Painting
- 2012 Recapitulation - Video Presentation of Paintings Completed in 2012
- Revolutionary Way to Shop for Clothes. What About Frames?
- Before and After - A Painting Framed
- Baby's New Clothes

Before and After - A Painting Framed

Once in a long while, I would be ready to fork out some money to have one of my paintings framed professionally.  Framing a painting is no trivial matter - it requests no trivial amount of money, and it requests serious deliberation on choosing the right ones.  A painting is like a person, whose look and impression can morph drastically with the clothes.  Clothes can flatter or debase a person and a frame can do the same to a painting.

My philosophy regarding frames is to do no harm.  The frames are to harmonize with the work but not to take the viewer's attention away from the piece, unless we want to hide some defects, imaginary or real, from the viewers.  I generally stay away from too ornate and heavy frames, which often dwarf the relatively small pieces we produce in the modern days, for modest settings.  Simple, in tune, and improve subtly.

Below is the painting I just took back from a framer.  Though the snap shot of the framed work does not quite match, color wise, the professionally done photo, one can still see the effect of this set of frames:

Other Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst:
- New Presentations of My Yearly Artworks
- First Painting Completed in 2013
- Unexpected Successes of "Stringed White Dresses - An Installation"
- "White Dress" Series Continues - A New Drawing and a New Painting
- 2012 Recapitulation - Video Presentation of Paintings Completed in 2012
- Revolutionary Way to Shop for Clothes. What About Frames?
- Baby's New Clothes

Revolutionary Way to Shop for Clothes. What About Frames?

I just saw a news story on Deutsche Welle, on the new way to shop for clothes.

Kleider kaufen, ohne lästiges Probieren – das könnte die Zukunft sein. Forscher des Fraunhofer Heinrich-Hertz-Instituts in Berlin haben eine digitale Umkleidekabine entwickelt, in der das aufgenommene Videobild des Nutzers auf Wunsch unterschiedlich bekleidet im virtuellen Spiegel erscheint.

Buy clothes, without the hassle of trial and error - this could be the future. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute in Berlin have developed a digital dressing room, where the captured video image of the customers in different dresses on request will appear in the virtual mirror.

from Video des Tages | Deutsche Welle

It is very interesting development and this kind of product is the way I have been begging framing shops to introduce, so the customers can upload a digital image of the picture they want to frame, and compare the stock frames the shop has to offer, including colored background, so as to better simulate the reality.

Currently, most shops offer corners of frames for customers to compare and select.  Without seeing the frame in its entirety, it is very difficult to make the right judgment. 

In my April 1, 2009 blog, Baby's New Clothes, I praised an online framer Frames By Mail.com for its effort to give customer some ideas of what the picture with any complete frames would look like. However, it doesn't have the right scale and the frames often appear much thicker than the reality.

I hope some developers will take the cue and revolutionize the way we choose frames for artworks.


Other Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst:
- New Presentations of My Yearly Artworks
- Unexpected Successes of "Stringed White Dresses - An Installation"
- "White Dress" Series Continues - A New Drawing and a New Painting
- 2012 Recapitulation - Video Presentation of Paintings Completed in 2012

- Before and After - A Painting Framed
- Baby's New Clothes

Baby's New Clothes

Signing and dating a painting is the final process of delivering a baby, but the excitement does not end there - showing off the baby and clothing the baby (framing it) continue the thrill. Selecting a right frame from endless choices for a painting is a daunting task; even the artist himself/herself sometimes approaches this step with trepidation and hope. Frames make a huge difference.

I often bring the painting, or at least a large print to the shop to select a frame. In the digital age, we have better tools than that. I often use a good web site for reference. Frames By Mail.com is a good starting point. This web site has a large collection of reasonably priced frames. The best feature of this website is the preview of one's uploaded image of a work of art framed in whichever selections one wishes to consider. (How I wish my local frame shop had such a feature!)

For this study, I uploaded my newly finished painting Bruges, Impression. The sample pictures below demonstrate what different frames will do for a given painting:

1 1/2" Black Wire Brush Panel

1" Black Compo Scoop














1" Two Tone Paduque














1 1/4" Dark Gold Leaf















1.25'' Dist Grey















1" Traditional Walnut On Ash













Clothes make the man!



Other Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst:
- New Presentations of My Yearly Artworks
- First Painting Completed in 2013
- 2012 Recapitulation - Video Presentation of Paintings Completed in 2012
- Revolutionary Way to Shop for Clothes. What About Frames?
- Before and After - A Painting Framed
- Revolutionary Way to Shop for Clothes. What About Frames?