Why You Should Never Buy Retail Wall "Art": What to do Instead

Monday, June 12, 2023

You may have noticed that I have put some quotation marks around the word art, because I use it very loosely in this context; the truth is that I believe that the "art" you buy from stores like Homegoods, Hobby Lobby, Wayfair, etc. it is not art at all but wall decor.

It is not on the level of the "Live, Laugh, Love" phenomenon; I believe it's actually worse. At least that knows what it is, but this? It's trying to take itself seriously as art. I have yet to come up with a name for this other phenomenon — only mass-produced voids of creativity.

In other words, I have a huge problem with this:

There is one reason why.

It's mass produced — not original.

Artwork that is produced on a global scale for retailers is empty because all the creativity is stripped from it. Companies that are shipping this wall decor to other companies are simply thinking about things like: "What are stereotypical images the media has made popular which will appeal to buyers?"

But what separates this from something like printmaking? Aren't they just reproducing the same image over and over again as well?

Printmaking like any form of art is a business, but they are still trying to profit off of an original idea and not a reused one. Artists are thinking of their idea before they're thinking of the market and not the other way around — at least I do.

But what about the art market that is untouchable? Don't they sell blank canvases for $10 million? You could argue that this is empty.

You can also argue that they are still buying the originality. They would not be buying a blank canvas if there wasn't some interesting idea or artist behind it.

What can you do to solve the problem?

Don't buy wall art from retail stores. If you do, you will keep on contributing to the problem which I would argue, is destroying art. It may sound a little harsh, and there's probably are few of you who are reading this that are thinking, "But I have a Homegoods canvas print in my home".

And that's fine because you didn't know about the problem that it poses for creativity; You were probably thinking that a certain piece would look nice with your home furnishings, and believe me, I have plenty of those thoughts as well. We'll go into what you can do instead in the next section.

There are two, well three, options:

1. Buy original art

Go straight from the source: shop smaller. If you're wondering where to find original art to buy, there are plenty of places online such as Etsy, Fine Art America, Saatchi Art; the list goes on.

There is an artist that I follow on Instagram which I mentioned in a previous blog post about artists on social media. The artist, called Canopic Studio, has a shop on Etsy where you can buy original pottery. It's overall very interesting; I recommend checking them out!

If you have any other stores that you recommend, list them in the comments section below; I would love to hear!

2. Buy prints of original art

Original art can be costly, and I understand that. Maybe that's also why you buy wall decor from Homegoods or another retailer — because you can get a large print for relatively cheap.

Prints of original art are usually cheaper as well, still nice quality although not an original, and you get art that's not mass produced. It's a win-win.

Some artists listed in my Instagram blog post, referencing the above section, have websites where they sell prints. Feel free to comb through that article and take a look. I may also be listing prints of my own sometime in the future on my website store, so stay tuned!

3. Make your own art

Maybe you want something that you can't find anywhere else; make it instead. Sometimes we have great ideas, and instead of ignoring it, run with it!

If you are interested in blog posts about how to DIY without experience and make art that still looks professional, let me know in the comments; let me know what you are interested in because I could definitely cover that.

And those are my solutions to the mass-produced art problem; I hope that maybe the next time you're shopping at a retail store, you stop and think of this article before buying.

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