Living with Art – Living Room Vignette

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    Living with Art – Living Room Vignette
    Art by Pablo Picasso and Michael Goldberg
    Interiors by Willetts Design & Associates
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    Living with Art – Living Room Vignette
    Art by Pablo Picasso and Michael Goldberg
    Interiors by Willetts Design & Associates
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    Living with Art – Sitting Room Vignette
    Art by Sean Scully
    Interiors by Willetts Design & Associates

In a 1998 artilce from the LA Times, Goldberg discussed his current concerns as a painter. “ He says his concerns now are about salvation, sin and redemption, order and chaos. ‘These are long-standing concerns of mine. A painter is always in competition with other painters of the past, though there are a few people you are not going to compete with at all – Titian, Velasquez, Picasso. You can’t beat them.’” As a fan of artists from both the past and his contemporaries, Goldberg looked to build upon the past, not compete with it, and he definetely stood his own as an Abstract Expressionist. His piece, Landscape (On the Way to New Lisbon, NY) adds to and does not try to out shout the three brightly colored lithographs by Picasso.

These three Picassos are vibrant examples of his somewhat limited work in color acquatint making use of colors like yellow, blue, pink, and red. They show a contemplative man that enjoys his cigarettes, looking out either into a mirror, or to the world around him. Coincidently, these three Picasso’s were completed in 1964, tha same year that Goldberg’s Landscape (On the Way to New Lisbon) was.

The room itself contains a traditional clean-lined loveseat upholstered in a grey boucle, a more contemporary grey stained oak chair, also upholstered in a grey fabric, and a grey-blue window treatment. By keeping the furniture neutral in color and shape, we allowed the art to be the star in the room. We added some warm toned metal accents; two fantastic hand cast bronze side tables in a Ferric Patina and a Dongson, or Rain Drum from Bali. And a Mid-century inspired matchstick chandelier in a light bronze finish to create a bit of drama and impact. The Turkish Kilim is a vintage piece and corresponds to the bright colors used in the artwork.