Guest Post: Pretty Far West

Alek is moving house. Oh, you knew that already? Right. Well, the news made me think about continuity and place, which gave rise to one of my notions: for a nomad such as Alek, moving is an integral element of the sense of home and it should be honored in her living space.

What, then, if she were to display some interior photos of her Seattle house in the new Atlanta house? These are two that I’d choose, and I’d hang large framed prints of them wherever some approximation of the same furniture goes in her new house.

rightbank

Interiors within interiors have a certain fascination. The world hangs flowers, landscapes, people and inspirational texts on its walls, but seldom depictions of furniture. I recently came across the term “sofa art”, a derogatory coinage used to describe art chosen to match the sofa. To which I say that it’s my sofa and I’ll match it if I want to, but also that I’d rather like to own a painting of my sofa. Is that so bad?

paintings1

And here are some other paintings I’d like to hang, not alone for the neat containment of interiors within interiors, but also for their stillness, their creation of new spaces and their commentary on my existing ones.

paintings2

I’m Mise from Pretty Far West and I take lifestyle seriously.

[Images:1, 2, Alek, 3, In Claire's Studio, 4. via the Guardian Gallery, 5, 6, Karen Hollingsworth]

13 comments

  3. elaine

    Really lovely to see you here and I love this post,and that notion of depicting your space in your space…and why not indeed…

    you know when you do that thing of holding a mirror in front of a mirror and you get this endless image of you holding a mirror .. i like the idea of recreating that in a picture over your mantle … i.e the picture of over your mantle ,is a picture of the over your mantle ,which in it could have another picture of over your mantle …..etc … I too find myself being drawn by interior pictures ( as opposed to the other way round !)
    .-= elaine´s last post ..Other uses for lampshades : part 306 =-.

    Reply
  4. Clair

    I've followed Mise over here – can you say stalker? I think I'll probably be able to find my way back by myself though…

    I love the idea of interiors within interiors – especially if they have the same sense of light as those paintings. *swoon*

    Reply
  5. Jacci

    Interesting – I'm thinking some of the Van Gogh paintings of interiors might be especially interesting. Have you seen the one of the little girls' bedroom, for instance. I think "sofa art " doesn't mean an artful representation of your sofa – instead, it means cheap, low-quality "art" chosen only because it includes the shade of your sofa upholstery.

    Jacci
    .-= Jacci´s last post ..First Year Frenzy-versary Part 4: Blink! The Title Is Ours =-.

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  7. mise

    Thanks for your emails and comments, everyone, here and over at my place, and thanks especially to the kind Atlanta reader who got in touch – it's good to know that Ally is moving to live among such very nice people.

    Jacci, the little girls' bedroom sound interesting, I'll take a look. "Sofa art" is that exactly, art chosen to match the sofa.

    Elaine, the infinite containment of pictures within pictures is a great idea!

    Clair, you're a very charming stalker.
    .-= mise´s last post ..not here but there: From the Right Bank =-.

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