One of the many colorful Albers prints I am inheriting from Alexis.
While I haven't been the most avid art collector over the years, Alexis has loaned to me her collection of Josef Albers prints. Each one is an abstract composition, part of the Homage to the Square series, which will bring much-needed color into my apartment and fill up the shared wall between the powder room and library.
It's hard to get a full shot of the wall between the powder room and library, since the hallway is so narrow.
I am thinking about hanging each of the flat colored squares in a simple display, not unlike my inspiration shots. The first one I took while traveling with Martha in the south of France this summer at the Miro museum. The other one is a tear sheet I saved from Dale Chihuly's home in the Pacific Northwest. I am leaning towards the Miro-inspired image that has a space between each picture. What do you think?
One of my inspiration walls, at the Miro Museum in the South of France.
This wall of Native American photography in Chihuly's home is stunning.
Kevin Sharkey 
From: Ricky | 10/15/09 at 12:42 pm
Kevin:
Kudos on having Albers hang on your walls! They will add warmth to your space with their simplicity and color. (I used to have Alber prints hanging on my walls.) Their simplicity asks for the Miro like hanging.
It is pouring rain here in the ny metro area today; could you let us know what it is like living in the new space with the changes in weather. Thanks!
Ricky
From: Mary | 10/15/09 at 4:31 pm
Absolutely the Miro space. Wonderful idea.
From: Sonja Mandt | 10/15/09 at 6:56 pm
I like it. Great choice. Of course Alexis has excellent taste.
From: Rowaida Flayhan | 10/18/09 at 8:06 am
Hi Kevin, while studying I.D in L.A, one of my projects was doing an abstract piece, I chose Josef Albers and did a research on his art, love his use of patterns and intense colors.
Wish you a great weekend.
Best Regards,
Rowaida
From: Lisa Curry Mair | 10/19/09 at 12:39 pm
The Albers would make a wonderful floorcloth design as well. Take a look at our version of this design at http://www.canvasworksfloorcloths.com/gallery/gallery2embedded.php?g2_itemId=3772&g2_enterAlbum=0. You could put a series of these boxes together on the design to make a hallway runner as well. Beautiful!
From: Michael | Chicago | 10/19/09 at 11:13 pm
While not an expert on the subject, I think art has taken a back seat to design as of late so I'm happy to see you talking about it in your post. I personally like to rotate my artwork on display as it provides a nice change every once in a while and encourages experimentation. The Miro inspired layout will definitely work better for your Albers but you can see how Chihuly's composition works so well given the quality of the portraits and their frames - the layout he chose also works as a metaphor for the history of the subject matter themselves. The choice of Chihuly's Native American portraits is also notable because when it comes to what Chihuly makes vs. what he collects, the latter is as compelling, if not more, than the former.
Art is definitely on my mind right now as I finally visited (quite tardy) the new modern wing at the Art Institute of Chicago last week. While the new building was beautiful, the collection pretty much blew me away. Gerhard Richter's work on display was my favorite amongst the many greats.
Obviously I could go on (and on) but your renovation project, and the gallery in particular, seems like the perfect venue for the display of art and I hope you can impress upon your readers that collecting art can be done on any kind of budget and in any kind of space. It’s the stories behind the works that makes it all the more interesting.