Your Guide To Avoiding Bad Wall Art

I was drifting through the homewares wonderland that is IKEA last week and of course I wanted just about everything in sight. I also wondered, with everything being so affordable as to why my own personal 'room sets' at home look no where near as good as theirs. I decided it's nothing to do with not being an interior designer, and more to do with not caring enough to try that hard. 

However I digress, although I loved absolutely everything in there, I loathed their wall art, if that's what they want to call it.

I don't think it was the pungent and potentially mind altering strength of their scented Christmas candles to blame for my disdain of their wall art, though I do suspect them of piping candle odours through the vents because God forbid anyone exit Ikea without at least one candle in their bag. Am I right or am I right?

Ikea is the land of cheap stylish furniture with a heavy empasis on function as well as beautiful form. We love them for it and they're better at it than any other retailer out there, but I think that's where their creativity ends, they don't seem to have nailed the sort of creativity that is required for good wall art and so as far as affordable art is concerned, IKEA is not the place to acquire it.

Low pricing structures aren't to blame for the poor offering, because because IKEA sell art prints not original art pieces, and art prints of inspiring and unique art are often (perhaps sadly) just as low in price when bought elsewhere.

If you're looking for unique and interesting wall art, you should definitely have a rummage on the following websites, which are full of talented independent artists. These artisans offer art prints better than anything you'll find on offer from standard big high street chains and you'll be investing in our nations small businesses to boot, which can only be good for competition and indeed the economy.

Etsy

Probably the absolute mecca of online designer makers and artists, all pooled together in one easy to search global marketplace. Simply search for 'art prints' or a more descriptive term if you prefer to arrive at literally hundreds of high quality choices.

Sure enough you will still get quite a number of tripe pieces in there, often engineered to make a quick buck from the latest popular slogan, but amid those are some truly inspiring pieces of work. Some Etsy artists even sell off their original works and so it's a serious market place for artists, but usually you can get an art print of your favourite pieces at fantastic prices.

Society 6

Another highly popular artist hang out, Society 6 is more specifically set up for artists and illustrators to sell their art, whereas Etsy is rammed to the rafters with anyone who creates anything at all. In one way Etsy is fabulously diverse, but if you're specifically after art only, you might find a specialist marketplace easier to navigate.

The fun thing about Society 6 is that artists can offer art prints on a wide range of materials and not just paper only, it ranges from art prints, t-shirts, phone covers and more. You can be wearing your favourite art, not just admiring it on a wall.

Local Art & Craft Fairs

Though you might suspect your local art and crafts fair to be full of crocheted cushions and home made jam (it is), it's not uncommon to come across affordable art too.

I once went to an small pop up street art fair in Birmingham city centre and came across the most fabulous artists; one of them gave me tips on the best brands of colouring pencils, and another I took away their card with the aim of purchasing their art prints online at some point. For shame I never got around to it, and now I have lost the card. Bah.