Monday, July 23, 2007

Use Art to Improve the Appeal of your Office

What's on YOUR walls?
Those Mediterranean motives painted in fake impressionistic style usually sold to mass tourists on side walks, now available at your trusted Wal-Mart? That style of "art" that seems obligatory in medical offices if you believe your local decorator? You know, those pictures of Portofino, Lago di Garda, Lago di Como...

Try the following low cost – high style alternatives:Nicholas Nixon “The Brown Sisters”. Shows 4 Massachusetts sisters as photographed yearly by one of their husbands over a time frame of 27 or 28 years now, one photo each year. A wonderful series – very suitable for an Ob/Gyn office. Buy 2 books for $39, tear out the pages and frame them. Or pay 100 K for a signed original 25-image-series available in a NYC gallery.

Take a look at the following artist websites (and remember that taste is subjective):Photographies by Emerson Matabele http://www.emersonimages.com/

One great photographer, whom I happen to know in person, and whose art I have bought without regretting it one second is Martin Berinstein. Take a look at his photographies at http://www.berinstein.com/.

Dry pigment paintings by Diane French who has studios in La Crosse, WI and St. Augustine Beach, FL http://www.statestreetgallery.com/ and http://www.canvascompany.com/

Ansel Adams never hurts either.

Should you have an Ikea nearby, they have very affordable framed and unframed art…

For nature images of the Everglades and Florida wetlands look up Clyde Butcher, a photographer who for me comes close to Ansel Adams. He photographs South Florida and its beaches, the Everglades, and the Big Cypress Swamp. On his website http://www.clydebutcher.com/ take a look at the “posters” section - for $40 you get excellent images…

I have the privilege to live in Boston (a privilege for which I pay dearly with lower income and higher malpractice rates) and we have a fabulous thing called "open studios". These are events, usually weekends, where many or most or all artists in particular areas of the city open their studios to the public. They even offer wine, mineral water, crackers, sometimes music and always conversation. Truly a wonderful thing, I love it. I consider it one of the best sides of Boston. If you are anywhere near the city look in the Boston Globe or on the Boston Globe website or google the term "Open Studios Boston" and visit...

Put some real art, and even if it is only a copy or print, in your office. Be different!
And, of course, you could send me your ideas about this, but you won't anyway, I know that.

2 comments:

Richard A Schoor MD FACS said...

Good post and points. I have very atypical artwork. The largest, in my ww, is agramed, enlarges movie frame from Casablanca. The frame is from a scene towards the end, at the airport, when Rick, Raynaud, and the Nazi officer have their showdown. Other than that I have antique maps, and my own photographs of local, Long Island sites known to my patients. Garage sales are good places to find unique, interesting pieces that are cheap, and framed.

ObGynThoughts said...

two good websites where you can find affordable art are:
20x200.com and
viewville.com
This recommendation was found on Martha Stewart Living...