The Aesthetics of Picture Frames

When I was a kid, my mom would take me to the art supply store on occasion. In our town, it chain art supply store was called A.I. Friedmans. That was our place to go for holiday decorations, supplies for Halloween costumes or science fair cardboard display boards. And my mom is a huge fan of scrap booking and making photo albums. This artistic side of her was never formally developed in any educational setting. Nor did it rub off on me, much.

But I went to the local Target that opened up recently to go get a picture frame. This is exactly the kind of activity my mom would be into. I have two paintings chilling out in my room right now. One is a splendid water color of orchid-like flowers emanating from a creme background. The other is a landscape of a farm overlooking hills with wild yellow grass subsuming a few trees. Both paintings are exposed to the elements, and I felt it was time to protect them.

So, I went to the Target because there isn't an A.I. Friedman's in town, Michael's is too far away, and the Bed Bath and Beyond was asking for too much money for their manufactured, pressed wood frames.

The problem, is seemed to me, was that there was a much greater diversity of frames than I realized. For this trip, I wanted to get a frame for the orchid water colors. It was the smaller of the two painting I own, and therefore, the most cost effective frame to buy, from my underemployed point of view.

It seemed that that most appropriate purchase would be a walnut-colored brown picture frame. [EXHIBIT 1] I would enjoy the feeling of looking outside through a pleasant, New England Colonial window frame. The brown color has an organic feel to it, so it complements, and does not harshly contrast, with the floral patterns. A picture frame is what you'd imagine the frames of your glasses would be when you wear them. You think: "How do I want to see the world?"


In contrast, there were some other, out-of-this world, ugly, pedestrianly ostentatious picture frames. Take for example the "Artistan" Frame. [EXHIBIT 2] This is the kind of frame you'd expect to see surrounding an El Greco, a Van Gogh or a Caravaggio. Thus, the artist whose painting I posses would be equally flattered and insulted to have such a ridiculously pompous picture frame. This frame screams pretentious yuppie who finds aesthetics are statistically correlated to price tags. This frame gives a false sense of agedness, and therefore anything that is bound by it must have aged well and stood the test of time. Plus, the contrast between the newly minted water colors on canvas paper with the false burn marks of cigarette lighters wearing the gilded edges of this frame would bring a visual falsetto to the otherwise crisp and robust water colors.


Then there is the obligatory sterling silver frame, otherwise known as the photo frame. [EXHIBIT 3] Now, everyone has at least one of these in their bedroom or their living room, stuffed with a picture of grandma, the kids from summer camp, or your boyfriend/fiance/boyfriend. Conventional wisdom states that this is the "go-to" picture frame for any photo with sentimental value. Why? Doesn't it look like you're viewing the person through some futuristic prison window? Or, perhaps an oddly rectangular window on an airplane, submarine or the International Space Station.


Just imagine this silver border wrapping around my orchid painting, like mechanic tentacles. That would be straight out of the Matrix. Again, a picture frame should complement and add to the viewing pleasure of the art lover. And if you're trying to make a statement about the duality and conflict between man and machine, that's one thing. But trying to induce migraines in people who suffer from astigmatism is quite another thing.

And finally there is the plain, black frame. [EXHIBIT 4] I would dub this the "Daria" picture frame, since they give off a intelligent, witty, artistic, cynical, and sarcastic feel. This is the kind of picture frame I'd expect to see at some hipster's whitewashed, industrial stupid in the Meatpacking District, aiming to provide some environmental contrast without erroneously giving off the impression of something lively, optimistic or corporal. This is the frame for the artsty-fartsy crowd that wants an understated frame to not steal the show, so the speak, from the art itself. That is pretentious, in it's own way. Plus, something that is understated will automatically contrast and inevitably draw attention away from the art itself.

So, I've stuck with the brown, walnut-hued picture frame. What do you guys think?