I love decorating my home but I don't have a lot of money so I've had to find ways in which to add colour and life to our little plot of land without breaking the budget.
My sister-in-law-to-be recently posted her love for Loretta Lizzio on her blog http://shecaughtmelooking.blogspot.com.au/ She herself, my gorgeous sister-in-law-to-be that is, is a very talented artist, check her out, her work is amazing, she has magic hands and fingers and such a wonderful style about her.
Looking for work by Loretta Lizzio got me searching the net for similar types of art that I could invest in for around the house. I've got a few drawings and paintings and framed poster art and lithographs up on the wall as well as some material covered canvas in bold prints that do need some reshuffling and updating. My search took me to some amazing artists, one was Frank Shepard Fairey the other Banksy. I immediately connected with their work, immediately I tell you! I loved everything about it, Banksy does this minimalistic simplistic graffiti stencil art based on political issues and social commentary. His website even lets you download and use his art for your own personal use. http://www.banksy.co.uk/
You can't buy Banksy art as such although according to Wikipedia art auctioneers have been known to sell his street art on location and leave its removal up to the new owner. You can however find some websites that sell pictures of his work in poster form. I'll post some of those sites at the bottom of this piece. You can also find any link/address I post on my blogs in the links tab on the home screen.
Then there was Shepard Fairey. Now his stuff I absolutely love love love. Might not be your thing but it certainly is mine. I think he is amazing. Shepard Fairey is a graphic designer, skateboarder and illustrator. His most famous work was the Andre the Giant Obey sticker. His work is included in some pretty amazing museums around the world http://www.obeygiant.com/
Some of Shepard Fairey's more rare works in limited print run into the tens of thousands of dollars and while I'd love to own an original, that's a little bit out of my budget. I was however able to find a few international eBay sellers who sold good quality Shepard Fairey lithographs. I purchased from theaffordableart_company and hang-your-idols. Both shipped quickly and the posters arrived in a toughened document roll, they were also pretty cheap, each (including postage) was about $30. One is the Arabic Girl in giant poster form however it came in 9xA3 pieces which I was aware of, will just be interesting getting it framed. The other was the Make Art not War lithograph. The third I purchased off Zazzle- http://www.zazzle.com.au/. It is very similar to the Shepard Fairey sugar skull just slightly different. All of them need to be framed, just waiting on a little $$ before that is a possibility.
Now, if you haven't yet discovered Zazzle then you really need to have a little look see. This site is AH-MAY-ZING! Yes, the site is so good it even needs some shit gangster Rachel Zoe esque spelling to emphasise how great it is. But truthfully and seriously, if you need anything printed on paper, clothing, crockery, phone covers, bags, hats, you name it, they'll print on it, then they are your people and they boast an extensive library of images. They do brilliant invitations and have hundreds and hundreds of thousands to pick from. They also have art in poster form and do framing at a premium price. Zazzle by far exceed any other online printers/graphic artists and designers I have used, are really professional and have no issue with returns, reprints or refunds. They top the printing cake for sure. You can even create your own art and printed media.
I am also really attracted to everything to do with Dia de los Muertos (the day of the dead). It's a Mexican holiday of origins dating back hundreds of years to an Aztec festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl- the Queen of the underworld ruling over the afterlife. The festival brings together family and friends to pray for and remember those who have died. Traditionally people build private altars honouring the dead using sugar skulls, marigolds and the favourite food and drink of the departed.
It is the brightly coloured skull prints that attract me most as well as all the little sugar skulls and the amazing face painting people do to celebrate this festival. Some is a little...hmmm...spooky for lack of a better word but I love that it's a little different, something we don't see all the time. I believe there is a shop called Holy Kitsch dedicated to selling some of the bits and pieces related to the festival. http://www.holykitsch.com.au/
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