The Art of the Art Installation

Let's talk about art installations! An AMAZING opportunity to bring style into YOUR spaces!

Glass balloons playfully dance in and around an antiqued finished Baroque style frame

An incredible way to reflect your own personal style for sure!... Mostly because there are SO many artful objects that can be used or obtained for an art installation type of project. Some of them repurposed, some artist created, and yet others might be commercially made. The possibilities are endless without a doubt! I feel incredibly fortunate as a designer to have exclusive trade-only access to some of the things that I (even in my 27 years as a designer)... never imagined possible! It means that the door is very much open for pin-pointing the look of a lifetime!

EXECUTION: You won't always get it right the first time. In fact, plan that you won't! The photo pictured here in this post is showing the art installation above a sofa here in the studio... showing our final placement of the balloons. However, I thought really long and hard about exactly what I wanted, creating a vision if you will, complete with a few little drawings and confirming size, scale and reach. Sourcing the artistic elements took time. I wanted it to be right. Installing it was another chapter, between myself and one of my fellow designer besties... we changed either the placement or the angle of a few of the balloons probably 3 different times in order to achieve the desired placement. The goal was to create a kind of whimsy. "Controlled playful chaos" is how we referred to it as we were placing the balloons. It was FAR from a willy-nilly install, but that is exactly how we wanted it to look, so placement, angle, etc. were key! (Oh the irony!) NOTATION: some of the artful objects that are specifically created just for art installations are NOT always shaped, balanced, or weighted in the most ideal ways, especially if you are thinking outside the box. In this case... these particular "balloons" are actually meant to be suspended from a ceiling. But, where there is a designer's unwavering visionary will... there must ALWAYS be a WAY! haha! So in many many ways, patience is always the most important tool to achieve the desired outcome.

Let's break down this entire vignette and explore "the look" though, shall we? The overall juxtaposition lies in the balance of the elements as a whole. First, the mere idea that the balloons are made of bright red GLASS is a great place to start. Each balloon seems to be dancing around or through the frame. The placement of the balloons suggest movement. The balloon it's self as an object, has a connotation of childlike whimsy, while the Baroque frame and it's antiqued finish, definitely suggests formality and tradition. Combining these two things together is a brilliant mix that creates wonder and thought. When we look closer, we see that the red from the balloons is present in the toss pillows on the sofa (again... the pillows are created out of a VERY classic, recognizable, formal traditional style printed pattern, BUT, featured in non-conventional bright colors).

The icing on THIS cake is the PINK animal print pillow, which pulls the pink from the traditional toss pillow (again, not expected, but certainly delightful)... and also the green plant which is seated on the tray... front and center, which incorporates an organic element that not only softens everything, but gives a nod to the green in the traditional pillows... adding yet another layer to this vignette. And the swirly twirly color bath on the area rug to drive it all home??? YES please! Classically rooted, yet totally fresh! Simple, yet complex. Grounded, yet fun.

You don't have to know EXACTLY what you want in order to start... you just need to be INSPIRED! Let your designer be your guide and help you to an outcome that you will LOVE!

*For design consultation information/inquiries call us directly at the studio or email us: info@aondaykodesignconsults.com