Art Collection & Framing (why bother?)
Leonardo DiCaprio, Beyoncé, Pharrell Williams, and Lady Gaga. Besides being celebrities, they share another thing in common: art collection.
A few celebrities in particular, like DiCaprio and Lindsay Lohan, have even bought art they’ve seen on Instagram, indicating the growth of a younger, more tech-savvy audience in the art market. Indeed, art collection is increasingly seen as a trendy and popular pursuit for those looking to make a statement about themselves to the world, and capture the fashion zeitgeist of the modern day hypebeast.
While the art world is slowly losing its image as a closed-off and inaccessible society, there is an aspect of art collection not thought about much, but still incredibly essential: framing.
Whether it’s your university degree or a picture of your cat, we frame things that we value, and what we value is different for different people. In the end, the goal is to slow down time, postponing the unavoidable decay that comes with it. Rich or poor, young or old; we all have something we would like to keep forever, while displaying it for all to see on a pedestal.
Besides preservation, framing separates the object from its environment; isolating it in a world of its own because it is deemed worthy of focus and scrutiny. The owner creates such exclusivity because the object, be it a painting or an art print, demands respect. “I am not meant to blend in with the walls I am hung upon, I belong to a canvas of my own!” it would proclaim.
Framing also accentuates the features of the object. Whether it’s burnt wood to give off a rustic quality, or a simple white frame to complement something minimalistic, different frames evoke different emotions and attitudes towards the same object. Imagine if the mandatory Kim Jong-un portraits in North Korean homes had no frames; would his absolute authority even still be legitimate? (Probably)
Moreover, framing is a trade that heavily relies on trust between the client and the framer. The methods and materials used vary as much as the pieces being framed, which are hard to discern for the layperson. The matting board (which protects the piece in the frame) for example comes in three forms: normal, acid-free, and museum grade, which are somewhat difficult to separate for the untrained eye.
The amount of variation also makes the whole process hard to automate with machines, as human judgment is essential to satisfying both the clients’ requests and what’s physically possible. This leaves the framer as the only one to put your faith in. While this may create some caution in people, there is some romance in engaging a trade that very much depends on the human touch, where you don’t get the sense it was mass-produced and coming off a conveyor belt like a new batch of iPhones.
Staying on the plus side, the best framers act as consultants. Much like tattoo artists, they will offer advice to clients about the nature of their requests. Sometimes, people make decisions that screams regret in the future, such as tattooing a lover’s name on themselves. And while they could easily go against their better judgment and entertain such visibly short-sighted choices, good framers have the goodwill to suggest more tasteful options. Again, the importance of trust shows itself in this trade.
So while you are busy browsing through Twitter looking for the next Takahashi Murakami collaboration to add to your collection, it may be ideal to devote some time into researching and finding a framer that can integrate it seamlessly with your home, especially if it’s a portrait of Kim Jong-un (you wouldn’t want to know what happens if you don’t).
