Paris Decisions: Which Painting Suits a White Frame?

'Autumnal Seascape,' acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30 cm

It was the deadline yesterday for sending my image for the catalogue for an exhibition in Paris that I mentioned in a previous post. This is the prestigious Le Salon Des Beaux Arts, which takes place each December at the Caroussel du Louvre,Paris.

I was curated for this exhibition by a curator/artist, Lena Kelekian, who I met in Beijing for the 6th and 7th Beijing International Art Biennale (2015, 2017). The group of artists who have been selected will show together - there will be around 44 artists from 23 countries and our brief was to submit a square painting (abstract or figurative). I feel really honoured to have been selected for participation in this!

My delay in submitting my image for the catalogue was down to having to decide between two paintings. I painted them both for the Salon, bearing in mind that the brief also included keeping to Blue, Red, Black, White and Yellow. I liked them both but for different reasons. Both are exploring various ideas about paint and form. As I know that, for consistency, our group is having the work framed in white frames, I decided in the end to submit 'Autumnal Seascape' because when I tried it against a white frame it suited white better. The red painting, which is perhaps my favourite of the two, simply was too restricted by the white frame; it is a painting that really looks best unframed, to allow the complicated shapes to breathe.

'Paint Poem: Mountains,' acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30 cm

As the red painting, 'Paint Poem: Mountains,' has a lot of white, it seemed too flattened out by a possible white frame. If I ever frame it, I will use a neutral coloured wood. I feel quite sad as I spent ages on this particular painting, but in the end it came down to framing decisions. Choosing the correct frame for some paintings can be really difficult and sometimes I prefer certain paintings to be unframed.

I will write more on this, and the group I am exhibiting with, in another post.

In the meantime, my large painting 'Social Integration and Opening Up' has gone to the framer. I believe it will be shipped very soon, as soon as I have information on a shipping date, and the frame I chose was perfect, a pale cream colour.