But that Georgia O’Keeffe poster in your foyer, the one you bought in 1989 to cheer up your college dorm room? That’s so not grown-up décor.
Let’s qualify an earlier statement: Art may cheer up an empty wall, but it’s not mere décor. If décor is a sheepskin rug, then art pulls the rug out from under your feet. It elicits a laugh, yanks a tear, loosens a memory, sets off an emotional itch. And its influence on your life needn’t be restricted to intermittent Thursday night gallery hops. No, just like your favorite David Bowie album or book of Flannery O’Connor shorts, a great painting or sculpture should be there to greet you when you wake up and set you to dreaming at night. You need art. Now, how do you get it?
Published: March 2008
