Spring is finally here. It is a time of rebirth and renewal in the outdoors and so it is a glorious time to do the same indoors. It’s an opportunity to put away some of your dark colours and throws that kept you feeling cozy in the winter months and add some fresher, brighter colours and objects to your home.
Here are some of our tips, especially around some fabulous contemporary pieces of art, to get you into the spring spirit and lighten up your interior.
Let’s start with some basics…
When it comes to colours, replace browns, blacks and deep jewel tones with pastels and even bright primary colours where possible. Florals are always strong seasonal trends that will brighten any mood.
Windows are suns gateway into our homes and responsible for filtering in natural light, focusing on your windows can brighten any room, bring the outdoors in and transform any space for spring. Washing your windows can instantly lighten and cleanse. Also adding more botanicals to your window spaces really brings the fresh outside, in.
Tips like a fresh coat of paint or repainting faded trims in a coat of bright white can help lighten up any room. Also we are totally obsessed with wallpaper at the moment. Wallpaper a feature wall, a trim or ceiling, you can have so much fun with wallpaper and totally transform a room let alone your home. You have to check our Kerrie Brown’s latest collections, with so many gorgeous designs to choose from you definitely will feel inspired.
The quickest and most impactful update is your art!
Spring is the perfect time to rotate the artwork to emphasise themes of light, growth and brightness. Images that uplift, spark joy and start a conversation. Of course, you can buy high-end artworks however art doesn’t have to be a huge investment, you just need to know where to look.
So, I have consulted our friends at .M Contemporary gallery in Woollahra on some spring suggestions for your home.
Nemo Janten – This pop art piece is perfect for contemporary homes and large open spaces.
Nemo Janten
Bringing a splash of pop back into our lives, this Dutch artist, a dutchie like me, is also know for his installations and hyperrealistic paintings. This work has been displayed in major cities all over the world, Amsterdam, London, Paris, Singapore etc. His work aims to reflect societies media and film culture, he’s claims to not be interested in fragmentation of objects, instead in disclosing the unity underlying “reality”.
The large images are actually made up of 100 different smaller images, stories incapsulated in glass spheres, where the work simply keeps repeating to the viewers
“The closer you look the less you see.”
Simone Rosenbauer
Simone’s pieces are spring personified. Rosenbauer takes the happy simplicity of anise block to capture moments loved and lost, to dwell on ephemeral experiences and to chart the strength – and frailty – of changing identities. Leaving the natural sun to shape a mix of perennially loved paddle pops, ice becomes liquid, pooling around the melting whole. Bitter or sweet, all memories eventually melt into the flow of life.
A fun piece to add personality and colour to your home, this piece looks striking in a minimal contemporary home or Scandinavian home or any home that is playful. We might have added one to our studio. Watch this space 😉
Jarek Wojcik
Jarek Wojcik
From salacious apples tumbling through space to curious crocodiles housed within chequered foyers, Jarek Wojcik invites you to enter a world of exquisite beauty. From within these hyper-real worlds Wojcik combines the still life tradition with modern artefacts to offer a self-reflexive critique of the history, perception and status of traditional painting methods in contemporary art.
His pieces take you on a journey within and add another dimension to any room. Allow yourself to get immersed.
Agneta Elkholm
Agneta Ekholm
All each mesmerising and calming, Agneta’s work is considered abstract and incredibly soft as the artist is interested in the movement of forms representing them in a fluid like form. The paintings result from the exploration and discovery inherent in a technique honed over the last 20 years. Working with fast-drying acrylic and water, Agneta uses a sponge to apply layer upon layer of shapes and gestures with solid pigment and transparent washes, while continually washing and rubbing sections away until the final complex image is built.
This work evokes it’s viewers to feel calm, relaxing and at ease in a large space. If you have a minimal, modern contemporary home with neutral toned colours then an Agneta will really become a stunning anchor piece for any room.
Maria Benvenuto
Maria describes her art as being very reflective of landscapes. She is originally from Chile and recently moved to Sydney’s northern beaches amongst the scrubby bushland and oceanic horizons. Benvenuto now finds herself constantly looking out at the landscape through her studio window in Manly over layers and layers of Australian foliage.
She’s uses layering of paint to represent an abstract bushland and shadows, conjuring the behaviour of light within the landscape, reflecting, shimmering, bouncing and settling on surfaces, from a panoramic sunset to a tiny dewdrop.
Her art can be wildly interpreted but beautifully displayed amongst any interior style from mid-century modern, to minimal modern contemporary or Scandinavian styled home.
Sally McKay
Sally McKay is a Melbourne artist who has always been involved in photography since a young age. She worked as a portrait photographer in Sydney for ten years before launching her career as a Photographic Artist. Her inspiration comes from her fascination with individual colour preference. She largely creates works from artefacts found in her immediate environment.
Gorgeous piece that evokes conversation with so much detail, in so many colours. A wonderful way to brighten any room, especially amongst Boho decor or Art deco interior design styling.
Arash Chehelnabi
Arash is an Iranian-born Australian artist inspirited by his Australian upbringing caught in his identity. Exploring the themes of identity, history, politics and relationships of power within his society.
His pieces are a blend of fragmented narratives, erasure, decontextualisation, stylistic dissonance, humour and absurdism. Bring a unique Australian narrative and sense of vibrance to your home.
Michael Taylor
Michael is a South African artist who was born in 1979 and grew up in Johannesburg. His research focuses on image interpretation and semiotic studies for visual art. His pieces are abstract landscapes of people in time. The paintings evoke emotion, sense of movement, rising temperature, movement through the characters and speaks differently to the individual.
Anya Pesce
Last but definitely not least, if you are looking to inject colour and dimension into a room then Anya’s abstract three dimensional plastic sculptures are for you. Focussing on the elements of colour, form and material to create her work, which addresses the notion of perception in contemporary painting practice. She uses materials such as plastic, infused with colour and manipulated to create gesture, allows Anya to make work with maximum visual and tactile impact.
If your home has a mid-century modern, art-deco or minimal aesthetic, you will love Anya.
…….
We hope that these pieces have inspired you. We love them and are helping many home owners select that special piece that brings life to their home.
If you want to see the pieces in person, then you can visit .M Contemporary’s stockroom and they can help you pick the perfect section of works for your home or office. Their stockroom is open Tuesday – Sunday and is open to the public. Do go there and have a look. They are so amazing at .M Contemporary, they take a few pieces to your home so you can see and feel each piece in your space. This is such an important part of the process.
SYDNEY CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR
Also, if you are heading to Sydney Contemporary Art Fair head to booth number G06.
We will be there opening night, Thursday 12 September from 5pm – 9pm to give you any tips or advice.
Other Sydney Contemporary days include:
Friday 13 September 12noon – 8pm
Saturday 14 September 11am – 6pm
Sunday 15 September 11am – 6pm
Click here to get your tickets so you don’t miss out.
Spring is a perfect time to cleanse and pick out any pieces of furniture, bedding, towels, or really anything that is ‘the weakest link’ and get it out of there. We’re all about ‘sparking joy’ and cleansing for the new season of summer fun.
Do share with us your pics and tag #Hillsandwestinteriors.
If this inspired you and you want to read more on transforming your home from winter to summer here is a great article with five tips.
Big love.
Aisha xox
No Comments