Size Matters

Art comes in all shapes and sizes. It’s a reflection of humanity’s experience of life and the individual artist’s perspective. So it’s no surprise that artwork mirrors all the colors, shapes and sizes humans can imagine. 

The many shapes of artwork might surprise people new to the art scene. Of course, we are most familiar with paintings and prints that are rectangular, but artists have experimented far beyond the familiar four corners. 

Constructed canvases can come in all varieties of shapes, including circles, hexagrams and just about anything else you could imagine. There are even three dimensional canvases. 

But size is one of the key ways that artwork defines itself. Today, let’s look at the importance of size and the way it affects an artwork. 

Context

Size is directly related to the presence of a painting. And context is everything. 

Sometimes, a room demands an enormous fine art print. It needs a defining visual anchor, the kind of piece that makes everyone who enters the room take notice. 

The great thing about a large format work of art is the way its colors and composition can bring an entire space together, giving it a strong identity. 

But there are other times when the context calls for a small piece. Smaller works usually allow themselves to be discovered, inconspicuously waiting to be seen. This opens up an intimate moment for the viewer. To fully appreciate the work, one has to lean in and get close. It’s a tender event between viewer and artwork. 

For any individual art collector, the size depends on many factors. There are times where a c