For most of us, “corporate art” means nothing more than bland landscape paintings, generic abstract prints or inane motivational posters mounted in cheap frames that hang, crooked and ignored, on the walls of our offices.  However, art in the workplace doesn’t have to be boring; in fact, corporate artwork can be one of the most effective – and affordable – ways to inspire your staff and bring new life to your office.

Over the course of an average career, most of us will spend as much as a third of our lives at the office.  No matter what sector you work in or the size of your company, success depends on channelling creativity for the benefit of the organisation.  So how can we increase that creative stimulation at work?  Free espresso and snacks in the break room can help, but great art is an even better way to encourage employees to recharge and embrace innovative ideas.

Modern trends in office space planning focus on technological innovation and improved mobility in the workplace – open workspaces, communal break-out rooms, alternative spaces and shared task areas are now the norm.  This means that many employees are subjected to a larger corporate cultural aesthetic.  They are no longer able to decorate their desks and workspaces with personal photos and other mementos that create a sense of ownership and personalisation.  This can create a disconnected feeling between workers and their workspaces.  To that end, the right artwork can help employees feel happier and more comfortable when they are at the office, which fosters improved motivation and creativity.

There is virtually no limit to what kinds of art are acceptable in the workplace.  Conventional artwork like paintings, photography, bespoke murals, mixed media installations, sculpture, limited edition prints, ceramics or textiles are ever-popular options, while more non-traditional pieces like water features, floral arrangements, textured wall treatments, interesting architectural details and lighting can also create an atmosphere that is both inspired and inspiring.

When selecting new art for your office, asking a few key questions can help guide your choices to the most appropriate pieces.  For example: what is your corporate mission and image?  How should your office artwork make workers feel – happy, amused, calm, energised?  Where does your company fit in your particular business sector?  Are you an established organisation with traditional values that could benefit from a fresh artistic perspective or a trendy start-up who needs a more subdued collection that won’t compete with an already vibrant brand?  Who is your target client base and how might they respond to the artwork you choose?

The point is that corporate art doesn’t have to be generic or uninspired.  It can be anything you want it to be, so long as the pieces you select have the power to inspire creativity in your staff.

Related posts:

1. Sotheby’s staff threaten strike Sotheby’s may very well be enjoying skyrocketing profits across the...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

But the Tories amazing art minister, Ed Vaizey is particularly defensive and protective of the arts and the cuts in the arts are less than Labour’s cuts some eight years ago. The way the economy is today, she said, it is amazing there is any money at all for the arts even though Tories are incredible art collectors.

Her friends she says think she is crazy to vote for the Tories but she wants to know who buys her friend’s art, certainly not the Labour voters. The thought is whether or not Emin has gone mad and has steered to the right, but still thinks she is a rebel dressed in her designer clothes. Some were handed it, some have it and some were lucky, Tracey seems to just be lucky.

Never shying away from attention she loves to go out with the likes of Kate Moss and others that grab the headlines. Is she the pure Rock n Roll or another one of those cougar chicks with the right designer wares. Even though her work should say it all, it has always been difficult to put a finger on and elusive. Looks good but is it fluff.

Emin is missing two works for the show one is her unmade bed that Charles Saatchi is exhibiting at a 2012 show and her tent – Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995 that was destroyed in the fire of Momart in 2004. She is also showcasing 16 infamous neon signs of hers that includes ones that she specifically made for the show.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

The Biennale 2011 runs from June 4 to November 27 in various locations around Venice including the Arsenale and Giardini, and this year will see the biggest exhibition so far, with at least 88 countries represented.  Among them will be Wales’s chosen representative, Tim Davies.  He is a multi-media artist whose works range from found imagery to film.

To assist the artist with his presentation and provide interaction with the public as well as security for the works on display, ten art students and graduates from Wales have been chosen to spend two and a half months in Venice.  They will be working as invigilators to help promote the Welsh artist’s work amongst visitors and curators from all over the world.

For these aspiring artists, this is a fabulous opportunity to immerse themselves in the international art community.  Rebecca Voelcker, one of the chosen invigilators, said that it will be a wonderful inspiration for her own work and a chance to express her knowledge of and passion for the art of Wales.

The Welsh exhibition will be hosted by the Arts Council of Wales and curated by Tom Rowland, a notable London curator and long-time supporter of Tim Davies.  This year the Welsh pavilion will be situated in the Ludoteca, a former chapel and sacristy in the Castello area at Santa Maria Ausiliatrice, a premier central location.

Related posts:

1. dOCUMENTA, Basel Art Fair, Venice Biennale and other must see shows The most exciting way to keep up to date with...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Arthur Koestler, a writer who became a political prisoner, began the awards in 1962. Speaking to BBC Radio Merseyside, Tim Robertson of the Koestler Trust said that the awards scheme helped prisoners and offenders in general to communicate using the means of art. He added that the arts required discipline and that offenders had failed in taking account of the impact of their actions on others. Art made people look at the impact it had on others.

He went on to say that art was about communicating, coming to terms with emotions and turning them into something constructive. Judges gave positive feedback to entrants. Inmates from Thorn Cross Young Offenders Institution, Cheshire, are writing poetry based on the works on display, which will also feature alongside. The artwork will be for sale and the profits will be shared equally with the artists.

The deadline for entries to the 2011 Koestler Awards is fast approaching, 8 April 2011, and the Trust is looking for volunteers to help with processing their usual number of over 5,000 applications. Visit their website, www.koestlertrust.org.uk, for details.

Related posts:

1. ‘Liverpool Discovers’ art trail Musical lampposts are just one of the attractions at ‘Liverpool...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

The lampposts, featured in Liverpool One and made by Andy McKeown, are thought to be the first musical ones in Britain. Like a giant i-Pod, they play a broad selection of music, including every single number one played by artists from the city, fifty-seven in total. The music selection is random but can be changed at the press of a button, and is best heard close-up as, otherwise, it is quite quiet.

A mosaic at Speaker’s Corner remembers Mary Bamber, one of the suffragettes who fought for equal rights for women. A giant telescope at the Pier Head represents 17^th century astronomer Jeremiah Horrocks. Colin Welland, who scripted the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire is represented in St Helens by moving images. On St James Mount, the public can listen to the sounds of the city with two huge sound ‘mirrors’. The puppet Kelda will represent the Wirral’s Viking past.

Liverpool has huge importance, both historically and cultural, and it is important that events such as this one, put on by Wild in Art, continue to reflect that.

Take a look at what’s on at www.liverpooldiscovers.co.uk. As well as featuring the trail, the website includes a number of interesting facts about the city. For instance, the city’s School of Tropical Medicine was the organisation that connected mosquitoes to the disease Malaria, and won the Nobel Prize for the discovery, in 1902.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This 1932 painting was of Marie-Therese Walter sleeping in an armchair. She was only 17 years old. Marie was the subject, as well, of other of Picasso’s paintings, including Green Leaves, Bust, and Nude. Bust busted the world’s record in New York in May 2010, being sold at £69.8million.

Picasso had been married at the time to Olga Khokhlova, the Ukrainian dancer. This was only half the reason the affair was kept under hat for so long. The other was her age.

Chair of Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art Europe, Helena Newman, explained, “Picasso’s La Lecture going for this price has made us very glad, you can imagine. After all, it is an amazing piece from Picasso’s most glorious period work.”

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Eagle-eyed experts at the Kelvingrove gallery alerted police when they saw the first exhibit, ‘Wooded Landscape With Figures’ being offered for sale by established Edinburgh auctioneers Lyon and Turnbull, who quickly took action and removed it from their sale.

A second, ‘Landscape’, by Scottish colourist  Samuel John Peploe, was sold by the same source to Glasgow art dealer Ewan Munday, and was recovered by police on 21 December.

A third, ‘The Infant Christ’ by Italian Renaissance artist Federico Barocci was recovered from the seller’s home.  Another, as yet unnamed auction house is also implicated in the thefts, another ten artworks that could be worth millions, including ‘ Salmon Fishers, Carnoustie’, by Kintyre-born William McTaggart, are still missing.

The story has only just come to light after more than ten years, as it was feared that otherwise the works would be sold on the black market and never recovered. Yesterday, a Ewan Munday Galleries spokesperson said, “The Peploe work came into our hands from an auction.”

A spokesman from Glasgow Life, which runs the city’s museums and galleries, commented, “We’re very grateful for the work of the police in bringing these paintings home.”

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Camcorders open up fantastic avenues for artists as they allow easy recording of events. Traditional film equipment requires a great deal of set up and precise lighting to provide a good effect. Camcorders allow users to shoot on the fly: this lends itself to a type of spontaneous art which captures moments with a precision that evades more traditional forms of filming. Additionally, artists can carry their camcorders with them all the time. Fitting into a bag, or a backpack, these devices can be pulled out at a moment’s notice to capture unexpected events or scenes. Indeed, the camcorder is the perfect tool for spontaneous artists.

This form of art links up particularly well with the Internet. Small videos can be easily uploaded onto the Internet where they can be viewed by millions. This is a tremendous advantage to artists as they can get their work out cheaply and easily. It seems every day a new video goes viral, many of which involve budding artists and their camcorders.

Perhaps the biggest reason behind the number of artists using camcorders is their price. These devices used to be very expensive and most people could not afford to buy one, but now they have become much more affordable. Indeed, anyone can pick one up at a local store for a very reasonable price, especially when you consider the cost of professional cameras or more traditional filming equipment.

For many contemporary artists the camcorder is a natural tool of choice. It is affordable, easy to use and lends itself to capturing spontaneous expression. Best of all it links up well with the Internet, an avenue which was proved incredibly conducive for artist expression around the world. This is part of an established trend where technological tools are adopted by artists; this helps produce excellent, evocative and contemporary art that ensures that the art world stays fresh and exciting.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Private investors have put more than £28 million toward the project over the course of the past couple of years.  The work is slated to begin in February, with about 25 per cent of the gallery closing for the refurbishing.Not much information has been released in terms of the architectural plans for this project, but with this amount invested, it is clear they would have the crème de la crème from the Business Directory of London. A superior arts establishment, highly valued amongst British culture, the Tate Britain will continue with events and exhibitions right through renovations. The Tate Britain has recently shown a surge in attendance even in lieu of the success of its sister gallery, The Tate Modern. The transformation, unfortunately, is not expected to be complete in time for the London Olympics and the gallery will have to run at about 75 per cent during that time.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

However, more contemporary pieces of sculpture in Britain are receiving a bit more attention as of late with Damien Hirst, Anish Kapoor, and Antony Gormley receiving quite a bit of praise given their works are featured in the yards of many prominent country houses throughout Britain.

The next generation of sculptures is hoping to make the same type of splash at the Wiltshire summer exhibition at the New Art Centre titled ‘Let There Be Sculpture!’  The exhibit features 12 new works along the Roche Court parkland and gardens which were built back in 1804.

Many of the artists behind the new sculptures come from the south London region of Peckham and have previously been on display there in a small gallery on Bond Street run by Hannah Barry.

This is the only thing the young sculptors have in common however as their works are quite a variety of sights.

For instance, Oddball by Bobby Dowler is a giant orb made of fibreglass that is painted brightly and placed near a croquet lawn not far from a pair of greyhound sculptures.

Look a little to side and you will see a rusted steel frame made by James Balmforth that is held together with a red sticky type matter that looks a bit like gum.

Just a little farther down is a black steel candelabrum that is atop a pole created by Marcus Klienfeld.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.