One essential element of fine art is its display. After all, if you can’t view it in its best light, it may not have the impact you hoped. A professional fine art lighting display can illuminate your artwork and cast it in its best light. It can help avoid unwanted glares and shadows, while naturally putting the spotlight on the art piece itself.
Fine Art Lighting Design
Lighting is an inherent part of design within your Houston home. While most of us think of light as functional, some of us also realize what lighting design can do for your home’s aesthetics, and in this case, for your fine art.
Lighting is an integral part of your artwork display. If you were to hang your artwork without any consideration to light, it would likely be dull. Instead of the art display you hoped for, it would just be another picture on the wall.
But when lighting design is incorporated into your art, art pieces become more prominent. It subtly lights all of the art.
Lighting enhances the colors and the textures within the artwork. It infuses life into your artwork.
Types of Fine Art Lighting
The type of lighting can affect the entire space where your art is hung.
Track Lighting
Track lighting is easier to customize than other types of fixtures. It’s great for when you want a gallery display on your walls. You can rearrange the lights, and add and remove them to get the desired effect in your art lighting.
If you add new pieces often or tend to move your art around, track lighting is the most flexible lighting solution.
Picture Lighting
If your art display is more permanent and you don’t tend to shuffle things around, picture lighting is the way to go. You mount lights right over your artwork, and it works great when you want to spotlight your art.
If you also desire a more vintage look to your lighting design, picture lighting lends the perfect effect.
Wall Washes
If your design style is more casual, wall washers may be more of your style when lighting your art. It yields a more subtle effect than other types of lighting solutions. The fixtures are often set in the ceiling and cast light over a wall, effectively washing over it, hence the name.
Whatever type of artwork you have, wherever it is on the wall, wall washer lighting will make it gleam.
Contemporary art collectors tend to prefer wall washers as their art lighting solution. It’s also easy to change your collection around or add new pieces.
Art Lighting Tips
There are many things to consider when lighting your artwork. At the top of the list is the preservation of your artwork.
Art is vulnerable to heat and bright lights. Because of this, LED lights are the best way to prevent damage to your artwork. LED fixtures emit very little heat, so the colors in your art will fade less over time.
It would be best if you light your art brightly enough to see its true colors and textures. But it shouldn’t be overkill.
The best lighting will enhance your art’s natural beauty. It won’t overpower the art piece. The only time you should require more light is for darker pieces of art.
When lighting artwork, also think about the surface of the piece as well as the frame. You can avoid reflections and shadows when you use the right lighting.
For instance, avoid steep lighting angles for framed prints or pieces under glass. Shadows tend to be more prominent in acrylic or oil paintings.
The Takeaway
Fine art lighting should showcase your art collection in the best way possible. Light should complement your art pieces while preventing damage to your art.
Our fine art lighting professionals can help you achieve a beautiful art display within the walls of your Houston home.
Contact our lighting designers for all of your art and home lighting needs. While we’re located in the heart of Houston, we travel all over to deliver the finest in lighting solutions to our stellar clients.
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