Art and Home Décor in the US

I was particularly interested in Komar and Melaid’s survey questions regarding art in the home. My interest in this area lies in that almost everyone decorates their immediate surrounding. It can even be considered and informal way of curating or a sort of art form. Unfortunately, Komar and Melaid’s survey was conducted in 1993, before the hype of American home make-over reality shows. I would have enjoyed seeing how the public’s perception of what the home should look like affects their responses within the survey.

Komar and Melaid’s project description states that most participants with an interest in the arts tend to be less definitive in their taste and more open to a greater variety of artistic styles. However, both of the questions regarding home décor provided only two opposing options; no “it depends”, so as in most multiple choice questionnaires, it is difficult to gage how many preferred a combination of both.

I thought about which would be the educated response to “Does one select art to fit with the décor of the home, or does one select art based on whether or not they like the piece”? Maybe, “a mix of both” would be most appropriate. Professor Yood might agree since last lecture he spoke of the importance of context and its affect on content.

 One of our recent readings (from the shark book) pointed out the importance of smart curating. Although the chapter was interested in the organization of works within a modern museum, I would say that home decor responds in a similar manner as each individual object forms part in the creation of a space. In my opinion, works should relate to each other the space, but at the same time, I would want to I would want to include art that I enjoy looking at. Interestingly, 60% of the participants selected to choose art for their home solely based on whether they like the piece or not.