he and the other painter sued because the carver of the wooden framework for the altar, Giacomo del Maino, was being paid more than they were. They finally got 1,000 ducats to his 700. Giacomo was not the only Renaissance carver to be paid more than painters for the kind of ornate frameworks, with arches, pinnacles, and sculpted figures, that surrounded pictures. We are so used to thinking of paintings as autonomous art objects and painters as lone creators that it comes as a shock to learn that the typical Renaissance painter was simply one member of the teams that decorated altarpieces, council chambers, townhouses, and palaces.

I will wait patiently to see your new series of six paintings…

As regards Chelsea, I need to plan my visit a little better. The day before, I decided to randomly step into a couple of galleries and was not very impressed with the art and some pretentious people that I met there…

Yesterday I went to Ed Winkleman’s gallery and I do have good things to say about his place (although it is in the extreme end of the lower west side). The person at the desk was very knowledgeable about the artworks presented and mainly the artworks also were very good… (The artist represented there was Christopher Lowry Johnson in the exhibition titled ‘Chorus’).

I went to the bookstore and have armed myself with a gallery guide to New York – so that I do not do any random stops at unknown galleries…

I like your frame. It reminds me of some frames of Jan van Eyck (c. 1437) that are painted to look like marble.

This is a great and frustrating topic. We touched on it once before in To Frame or Not to Frame?

Intrepid art collector Lisa Hunter said

I’m unusual in this, but I hang all my paintings unframed. I find frames distracting, and leaving the work unframed helps me “see” the art.

With works on paper, though, I’ll spend whatever I need to to have UV glass, acid-free materials, etc., to preserve the art.

Karl said,

One useful function of a frame is to isolate a picture from the surroundings. Pictures without frames will have more influence on one another, which can make hanging them together more of a challenge. But this also opens possibilities. In a sense, the pictures can frame one another.

I’ve started a series of paintings (six so far) which are large (for me at least) and I have no intention of framing them because I know from experience how difficult and expensive it is to frame a picture properly. Framing is vitally important and also a good way to distract yourself from being a painter. I think the folks in Chelsea are doing little more than making a virtue of necessity. Not framing is certainly nothing new…

Although I read the size of your paintings earlier, I am impressed to see them in context.

So, did you see any good art in New York?

Most textile artists that I know have a specific placement in mind for their work, even before they begin. But that’s because they can place in craft fairs as well as high-end art venues, and there’s a huge difference in what will be acceptable where.

I don’t do this, but that’s because I’m trying hard to get my intentions to match the outcome (and I don’t need the money) I don’t do craft or boutique work. However, I am very aware of the venue when I start looking for an exhibit venue, but that’s always after the fact. Big stuff doesn’t fit into small spaces and the reverse. The consideration of the space and the work are really important to me, which may be why I don’t find Still’s insistence on control irritating. I find it rather charming, in fact, especially given the insistent nature of marketing these days.

As for frames, with textiles, the issue of framing has a lovely flexibility. Conventional bed quilts have a 1/4 inch (approximate) binding, a convention that derives from practical considerations — when the edges of the bedding got worm, you could remove the binding and sew on a new one without damaging the body of the quilt.

This got translated into a kind of frame around art quilts, which works OK. Very quickly, however, people realized that the edges could be “faced” — that is, turned under, so the image appears to continue beyond the edge of the visible work. There are other variations — a close satin stitch, for example, all along the edges that closes unobtrusively or obtrusively.

With small pieces, I almost always use frames because of what we call the “hot pad” or “placemat” effect — if you don’t frame small textile works, someone might take the roast out of the oven with them. I have also mounted textiles by sewing or velcroing them to mat board; in these instances I generally burn the edges to seal them.

If I frame textiles, I prefer floating them without glass.

So I suppose I would have to say that for me, size determines something about framing, intent comes next, and efficiency and material concerns (ease of storing and delivery) also enter into it.

I do feel sorry for artists who are required not only to frame but to use glass or plastic and then ship their work. Textile wall art is lots easier to send across country.

Unframed paintings with dirty edges are pretty standard in the contemporary urban art world. This convention goes back at least to the Abstract Expressionist painters of the mid-twentieth century, though they’d also often just nail crude lattice strips to the edges of their paintings, and let buyers deal w/ proper framing if they wanted to. Works on paper are generally framed, but I’ve also seen them just pinned to the wall.

I never frame my paintings or linoleums. The linoleums are braced. The large ones show the bracing at the edge, and the smaller ones have it inset so the image floats. With paintings I generally paint the edges a neutral color, which I find less distracting than showing all the drips, but that’s a personal preference and certainly not required.

Birgit,
Yes, you are right - a lot of my ‘face paintings’ would not be suitable for a small room (not that I paint these with the final location in mind)…

My paintings disintegrate into a mass of messy colors when you approach it up close - best viewed about 10 feet away.
Personally I view artworks from a distance and from real close. From a distance such that I can discern the general statement and larger picture (pun intended) and I get closer (actually really close) to experience the texture, thickness and the technique used by the artist in creating the piece. Steve put it very well when he said that he gets frustrated if he is not allowed too close to a piece… I experience the same pangs…

Steve,
I actually like the frame you created… It accentuates the ‘Trail’ theme.

Additionally, I would be interested in responses to Birgit’s question when she asked if an artist decides beforehand where the picture is destined for…