TRANSFORMING SPACES WITH ART - Get blown away by Aradhana Anand's magic in her gorgeous Delhi home

People own the works of art that they do, for several reasons - possibly to add a famous artist's to their collection, or change the mood of a room, or just fill up an empty wall. And I am forever keen to know how they display it in their spaces.

Presenting a spanking-new feature on

 TRANSFORMING SPACES with ART

"Art" is way diverse. So I am sticking to just paintings for now.

I am all out to know how you decorate your walls with artwork, how you connect to the pieces you buy, and most of all to see how you elevate the artwork to a whole new level with your aesthetic eye.

So here I go, kickstarting this feature by handing over centre-stage to Aradhana Anand. A few clicks and scrolls around Aradhana's blog and you will know she is a traveler, a born aesthete with an eye for color and decorating, and an art lover too.

I am sure most of you have seen glimpses of the heaven she has for home in Apartment Therapy, Shalini Pereira's blog, and Jaypore. But here's a spotlight just on her art collection. She graciously takes us through her beauties and how brilliantly she dresses up her den with it. Best of all, there's a story behind each piece.

"If it were unto me",  

"there wouldn't ever be an empty wall in my house!"

And on how she chooses artwork, Aradhana says, "It has to appeal to me and my aesthetic sense; I don't buy art basis an artist street value or credibility, if I like what he or she produces, I will buy it irrespective. I don't match art to the room, I try and see if it works once the room is furnished. I can move stuff around between rooms that way, everything goes everywhere!"

A long post, and but I bet you'll tell me it was totally worth it :-)

 

"Pen on paper by Shishir Bhatt framed in colour to add the necessary pop against the dark walls"

"The black frames behind the books/lamp and candle-stands respectively are Banksy prints I picked up from Portobello Market in London. I don't want to hang them up (too much on the walls) so I've let them rest against the wall as a background so to speak against the lamp and candle-stands..."

"Vertical stack, bottom to top - tribal art from Bali (4) | watercolour and pen Cambodian Monks bought in Siem Reap (2) | oil on canvas Whirling Dervishes picked up from a flea market in Damascus, Syria | robot prints bought in Singapore. The centre - Chinese warriors on canvas picked up in Singapore {I love the frame!}."

"Vertical stack, bottom to top - Mario Miranda prints I bought while on holiday in Goa, from his store in Panjim | Any Warhol prints of his cat Sam, bought online from art.com"

"The drawing room... the art at the far end (canvas near the window in the red frame) is Krishna (again) by Bratin Khan.. the set placed vertically are by Vijender Sharma (watercolours) {his work, I really really like - I've seen his oils and I was blown away, he has a particular style of the painting merging into the frame" 

"Another fav corner, painting is by Shipra; the little Krishna and Nandi (adorable!) is Lladro - my Mother bought the Krishna a few years ago and my sister and I got her the little Nandi to complete the set. The rest is an assortment of copper and bras and silver."

"Dining room... mosaic replica's again of Mary and Christ from Russia flanking either side of the bureau... the plates on the wall are from Romania and Greece."

"The TV room/lounge - the 2 sailors are tapestries done by my Mother many many many years ago... the 2 little ones in the thick wooden frame are from Bali"

"The Krishna's - I recently got them re-framed from their erstwhile boring avatar of white mount/black frame to a maroon frame to match the primary colour of the room and a grey mount to bring out the colour of the painting."

"The 2 framed pieces on the white wall (closet area near the bathroom door in my room) are my favourite, Chinese tribal work, watercolour on paper, I found at a thrift store in Singapore."

"The staircase foyer, Tanjore art and Ravi Verma lithographs"

Way to go, Aradhana - and it totally works in your home - it reflects how much you have traveled and it is teeming with stories from the world over. I also love how diverse your art collection is.
And, thank you for sharing these Gorgeous images of your home. I thoroughly enjoyed the email exchanges we had and wish to meet you in person sometime! I definitely don't mind colorful travel stories over a drink/cuppa :-)

And dear readers, stay tuned for many more exciting spaces in this series - TRANSFORMING SPACES WITH ART. Also do write in if you have walls to flaunt too, would love to showcase them.