Fresh September Aspirations

After the renewing escape of warm weather and summertime activities, the fall always seems to refocus the mind, tending towards the new projects and fresh ideas being born in the blissful empty spaces left in the wake of summer’s flurry. With novel aspirations comes a need for novel surroundings, perhaps an updated aesthetic in the apartment, the office, the studio or the workshop, and a fresh atmosphere in the home or the place of work, however it unfolds. Big ideas and ambitious projects require a supportive and inspiring environment, and the right connection with a piece of artwork can have a surprising effect on both the mood of a space and the ability to tap into that coveted creative well that springs from us all.

Deux Cavaliers from Claude Weisbuch is a swirling stone lithograph, his gorgeous sketch lines accented with a sophisticated and subdued color palette— mainly black, with a warm red tone and a cool dark turquoise, and finalized with a subtle off-white highlight that pops off the beautiful olive fine art paper. With Weisbuch’s drawing skills crisply featured, this signed small-edition print is captivating.

And a signed 1976 etching from Joan Miró seems to strike just the right balance, in a stripped down black and white piece rich with his usual nobility and charm. The title The Pine Tree of Formentor (Plate 1) allows this abstract work to take on other layers of significance, opening the doors to the mental clarity that is ripe for creative thinking.

In Still Life I by Kenro Izu, a touch of nature breathes life into a white paper, a conceptual piece that has a similar effect on the blank page of the mind, and forges a connection between any interior and the remedy that is the outdoors.

Ty Wilson’s Seduction inspires an attitude of passion and freedom from inhibition, seemingly a call to throw caution to the wind. Its simplicity of design leaves room for a permeating air of both confidence and mystery.

Art Nouveau great Aubrey Beardsley offers an exotic and piercing work that takes on the ambiance of a dreamy foreign nightclub from a century ago. With flowers tumbling off the shoes, impossibly be-feathered hair and a phantom musician, it suddenly becomes easy to let inner visions loose.

In a disquietingly magical signed silkscreen from Jim Buckels titled Seventh Torii, the sense of depth and luminosity is really quite difficult to describe. His odd and unique style that lands somewhere between methodical and otherworldly, mechanical and imaginative, is a surreal rendering rich with countless colors and gradients of shimmering gold.

An electric Keith Haring piece is practically alive with energy, an original edition stone lithograph titled Into 1984 - Tony Shafrazi Gallery straight from Haring’s gallery show there. No idea could stay trapped in the confines of the body with an artwork like this one gracing the walls.

Boat designs by Sparkman & Stephens ignite the desire to build, to rearrange and to carve out design concepts, and they also cultivate a kinship with the sea on the whole. Design No. 711 Cabin Construction of Bolero is one of a handful of various signed silkscreen prints from 1980.

And with Abstract by Budd Hopkins, a 1978 silkscreen, the colors, shapes and buoyant activity organize a perfect setup to follow whatever inklings may be pulling— whether they be for encouraging creativity and construction or relaxation and play.

Whatever feeling September brings for you, the best way to connect with your own new ideas and creative energy is to start with a fresh space, lending an indispensable new perspective.