THE JOY OF HANGING AN EXHIBITION
THE ‘JOY’ OF HANGING PAINTINGS.
By Val Johnson
I have hung many exhibitions in my time; this is always a stressful job because you can never make everyone happy and it actually makes me quite nervous because you don’t know what you are going to be faced with- Pondering this thought I began to think that it might be a good idea to let everyone into my secret of how an exhibition is hung. This is how I do it- others might do it differently.
Firstly you are faced with 100 or more paintings to display on blank walls! AAAGH!
Where to begin? What do you do about these precious and personal statements? ‘So I grits me teeth and gets stuck into it’.
I look for something that hits me in the eye to start with- this is my centerpiece. Then I look at the colour and relationships in size, and framing that will happily ‘sit’ together without fighting. Each piece deserves the best place within a relationship of like-minded colours tones hues or subject matter. So on each wall this is what I try to achieve. Balance is the key. BUT there are always some paintings that are hard to hang with others because they are so different. These are the challenge.
‘But I does me best!’ Who painted what is not what is important. The person hanging has no idea who the artist is- we are just concerned with where your work will be displayed best by colour, the way it is framed and relationships of surrounding works. There is nothing personal about any of it.
About framing. When you are entering your work in an exhibition think of framing it properly in a good frame. Make the back of the work as neat as the front, the painting neatly fitted into the frame and taped, with d-rings, wire or cord securely fitted. Labels on the back with your name and the title and price are a MUST. This way the hangers will sing your praises!
There is nothing worse than to try to hang a work that is not securely fitted into the frame with loose cords and an untidy finish. It is awful if someone’s painting crashes to the ground because it is not secured properly. In most cases these works would not even get hung in some exhibitions. So be particular. It will help the person hanging your work immensely. (please, please, pretty please!)
Remember people might be interested in purchasing your work- so make it professional.
