Year: circa 1980
Medium: Silkscreen, Signed and numbered in Pencil; Edition: 47/150; Size: 43 x 29.5 inches (Courtesy of Meyer Fine Art)
Jennifer DeCarlo | Downtown News
Two neighboring galleries lead the charge for letting art come first
Whether it beautifies or challenges, art enriches the quality of our space, and through it our life and mind.
Two ongoing exhibitions confront art in the home head-on: Meyer Fine Art uses sarcasm to challenge us to want more from what we choose to hang in our home, and Jacqueline Lavenu Studio & Gallery inspires us to enhance our space through elegant groupings of art, furniture, and objects.
“Does it Match My Couch?” on view through June 29 at Meyer Fine Art, was an easy and a brave move. The exhibition of bright and colorful works from the gallery’s collection jabs at the desire in many to overlook substance in artwork in favor of matching a home’s decor.
A problem in the marketplace and a disappointment to many in the field, Meyer manages to walk the line with works that are decorative but hit at the meat of his argument for content. Notable artists on view include Kenny Scharf, Alex Katz, Jack Youngerman, and Nicholas Krushenick.
Rather than challenge, Lavenu’s new gallery expansion shows us the way. The gallery pairs artwork with furnishings as if to say this is how you bring art into the home. For newcomers to collecting, it can be difficult to make a first move.
Lavenu’s style is seductive and easy, but not at all obvious. With tables from Italy, bureaus from Japan, doors from China, and ceramics from Mexico, it is hard to say that anything inherently belongs to each other, and yet it melds.
(Courtesy of Jacqueline Lavenu Studio & Gallery)
In this space we realize that it is what we do with what we have as we look to incorporate the new works we want, and not the other way around.
Reordering may indeed be necessary to get a new acquisition to “fit,” but the results of upturning your home to include a work you love are not to be underestimated.
Together these shows dare us to be different, to be bold, and for some of us, even courageous enough to let art come first. Living with art is in itself is life changing; it is an adventure that yields endless discovery and boundless reward.
Meyer Fine Art
2400 Kettner Blvd., #104
Jacqueline Lavenu Studio & Gallery
2400 Kettner Blvd., #103
Jennifer DeCarlo is the owner/director of jdc Fine Art, a contemporary photography gallery in Little Italy. She can be reached at [email protected].
