Your walls should reflect your taste and style
You put effort into making your place look good, right? You keep it clean, you light up a candle to set the mood and invest in interesting and comfortable furniture. But what about your walls? How is your art collection coming?
Because a man's tastes should be reflected in the artwork he surrounds himself with—the pieces that speak to his sensibilities or inspire him. A great piece of art not only elevates the look of a room, but says something about the owner. Ideally, you will have pieces of art in your home that invite questions from your guests. You should be prepared to answer them.
That also means investing, even just slightly, in more meaningful objects. Thankfully, there is a wide range of options when it comes to affordable art these days. And what's more, buying online is way better than in person. There is an endless supply that you're able to sift through. You can shop by price and drill down into only the categories, styles and colors that interest you. And you can do it all without any judgement—and some poor gallery or store employee's eyes watching you the entire time. Here, we've assembled a handful of outlets that offer reasonably priced works, along with a few of our favorite selections from each.
Brooklyn artist Andy Blank is on a mission to prove cost doesn't always equal quality when it comes to buying original art. “Contemporary art should be handmade and always make you smile,” he says. This piece is part of a series of chromatic giclee prints, framed in a light maple shadowbox. Get one, or create your own collection of two, three or four.
“Vivid” print, $89 by Andy Blank
Crate & Barrel's kid brother brand has come a long way. They're now known as an outpost for urbane, considered design along with a wide variety of reasonably-priced art. This piece, part of a four-part series, pays homage to an original 1969 tapestry by Los Angeles artist Evelyn Ackerman.
“Quarto 3”, $179 by Ackerman
If you want a really impactful piece of art, you're likely looking for something with substantial scale. This online gallery ships their oversized prints on an ingenious fabric that is rolled out and tucked into a lightweight frame. This allows you to display a rich, textural print, like this one from Taiwanese artist Artur Chen, without the high prices of traditional canvas.
“Cellist”, $125 by Artur Chen
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Society6 truly has something for everyone's taste, whether you're a budding collector or a first-time buyer. The site is meticulously categorized to help you narrow down what you're looking for and it ships quickly and securely. You can also fully customize your piece, from a range of sizes and framing options.
“Golden Rolling Hills Road”, from $97 by Kevin Russ
Tappan stocks the kind of cool abstract art for those of us who aren't sure what we're supposed to be getting out of abstract art, but just like the way it looks on a wall. Like this mixed media from Leigh Wells, who incorporates found vintage materials into her pieces.
“Visage 3”, from $175 by Leigh Wells
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When you don't have a six (or seven) figure art budget, buying an exhibit's poster is the next best thing. There's a throwback quality to it and this allows you to appreciate a piece of art on a much more approachable level.
“Untitled (I am an invisible man)” poster, $24.95 at MoMA
Sandgrain Studio takes a pared-down approach to graphic design, creating posters and prints with a midcentury aesthetic, be it sports or concerts, abstract designs or legendary globetrotting chefs.
“Anthony Bourdain”, $54 by Sandgrain Studio
Artfinder features a global selection of artists in an eclectic array of categories. You buy pieces, like this mixed media collage from Britain's Petr Strnad, directly from the artist, which saves you from the typical gallery markup.
“Endless Flow” collage, $284.14 by Petr Strnad
Do you have an old photograph, map or souvenir from your travels that you’d like to elevate into art? Having it professionally framed will do just that. Framebridge specializes in custom framing and makes the process quick and easy—just send them your item, choose your frame style and size and it gets shipped back to you ready to be hung.
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