Selecting the right piece of art is usually a snap. Personal taste and the perfect grouping make a boring area interesting, and small rooms open up with a deft touch. If there's a challenge that's almost too big, it's the space that seems impossible to fill. Rather than buying out a gallery and throwing clutter at the wall, picture a few pieces of Texas-sized art. Imagine that entrance or lobby or long stretch of green parkland as the perfect place for something really big.
Picture Something Exciting
Texas-sized art is big and powerful, and it covers everything from classy to outrageous. Two-story canvases are as dramatic as the skyscrapers that show them off. Sculptures that dwarf compact cars delight strolling visitors at the city park. The Cadillac Ranch, with it's quirky army of upended cars, put Amarillo on the map, and a stretch of Interstate 10 through Houston is graced with huge, sculpted heads of presidents. The caddies and the presidents aren't for sale, but finding artwork big enough to fill up big spaces like these isn't that hard. Picture lobbies of hotels in Houston, then picture what works with it.
Picture Something Big
Imagine a canvas by Albert Bierstadt, and you have a good idea of Texas-sized art. His landscapes of the west are sweeping vistas of majesty and size. Visit the Rothko Chapel in Houston for an example of canvases that are both art and interior. The Jackson Pollack installation is inspirational and functional. Donald Judd's huge box sculptures grace an airplane hangar, and they put Marfa on the map. Luis Jimenez formed fiber glass into towering mustangs, and his polychromatic Vaquero is a centerpiece of Herman Park in Houston. These men and their art aren't all native Texans, but the scale and impact of their work defines what Texas-sized art is all about.
Picture Something Affordable
The prices for an original Bierstadt or Pollack stay in the stratosphere of high-end collectors, but buying Texas-sized art doesn't mean putting an over sized hole in the budget. The selections at local galleries are surprisingly affordable, and the newer the name, the easier it is to collect. Donald Judd was a starving artist once, and Jimenez got his start as a student at the University of Houston. Shopping for over sized art is never a trip to the resale shop, but connecting with the local art community is a smart line to discovering affordable talent. Houston's Montrose area is a perfect example of the crossroads between talent and commerce, and its Museum District is a rich source for finding good leads.
Big spaces and Texas-sized art are meant for each other. The professional cool of a high-rise entrance becomes lively and interesting with the focal point of a single, dramatic sculpture reaching for the balcony. A vast hotel lobby radiates welcoming warmth through a panorama created from a few over-sized canvases. One larger-than-life vaquero brings smiles to passing faces on a long stretch of public park. Over sized art doesn't fence in a large area, it excites it, and Texas-sized art is the perfect fit for big, open spaces.
Ann Bailey is an artist and former journalist and contributes art-related articles for hotels in Houston like the Hilton Southwest. The hotel is a jewel itself, inviting all who enter to enjoy the ambiance and comfort of this great place to stay during any art tour of the great big state of Texas.
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Texas-sized art is big and powerful, and it covers everything from classy to outrageous. Two-story canvases are as dramatic as the skyscrapers that show them off. Sculptures that dwarf compact cars delight strolling visitors at the city park. The Cadillac Ranch, with it's quirky army of upended cars, put Amarillo on the map, and a stretch of Interstate 10 through Houston is graced with huge, sculpted heads of presidents. The caddies and the presidents aren't for sale, but finding artwork big enough to fill up big spaces like these isn't that hard. Picture lobbies of hotels in Houston, then picture what works with it.
Picture Something Big
Imagine a canvas by Albert Bierstadt, and you have a good idea of Texas-sized art. His landscapes of the west are sweeping vistas of majesty and size. Visit the Rothko Chapel in Houston for an example of canvases that are both art and interior. The Jackson Pollack installation is inspirational and functional. Donald Judd's huge box sculptures grace an airplane hangar, and they put Marfa on the map. Luis Jimenez formed fiber glass into towering mustangs, and his polychromatic Vaquero is a centerpiece of Herman Park in Houston. These men and their art aren't all native Texans, but the scale and impact of their work defines what Texas-sized art is all about.
Picture Something Affordable
The prices for an original Bierstadt or Pollack stay in the stratosphere of high-end collectors, but buying Texas-sized art doesn't mean putting an over sized hole in the budget. The selections at local galleries are surprisingly affordable, and the newer the name, the easier it is to collect. Donald Judd was a starving artist once, and Jimenez got his start as a student at the University of Houston. Shopping for over sized art is never a trip to the resale shop, but connecting with the local art community is a smart line to discovering affordable talent. Houston's Montrose area is a perfect example of the crossroads between talent and commerce, and its Museum District is a rich source for finding good leads.
Big spaces and Texas-sized art are meant for each other. The professional cool of a high-rise entrance becomes lively and interesting with the focal point of a single, dramatic sculpture reaching for the balcony. A vast hotel lobby radiates welcoming warmth through a panorama created from a few over-sized canvases. One larger-than-life vaquero brings smiles to passing faces on a long stretch of public park. Over sized art doesn't fence in a large area, it excites it, and Texas-sized art is the perfect fit for big, open spaces.
Ann Bailey is an artist and former journalist and contributes art-related articles for hotels in Houston like the Hilton Southwest. The hotel is a jewel itself, inviting all who enter to enjoy the ambiance and comfort of this great place to stay during any art tour of the great big state of Texas.
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