No More Naked Walls: 20×200 and Charmingwall
In college I had some seriously embarrassing posters on my wall. One of those “My Goodness, My Guinness!” vintage beer ads (ha ha, get it? Sometimes I get drunk!) a corny, fake-introspective Van Gogh interior and some horrifically lame William Bouguereau abomination with frolicking cherubs so feminine it practically had its own fallopian tubes
I’ve moved on since then and like to think that my taste in art has matured somewhat. However, aside from buying posters at places like MOMA Design Store it’s tough to find art prints that aren’t horribly cliched or wildly out of my price range. Plus it would be nice to buy some art worth better hanging material than double-sided tape. My apartment walls were looking pretty barren until I found out about Charmingwall and 20×200.
Charmingwall offers a wonderfully curated selection of open-edition prints for $20. The prints are of a beautiful quality and each can be mailed to you ready for framing. The web design is pretty amazing in itself, but their real-live shop is at 191 West 4th St. btw 6th and 7th Aves. in Manhattan, if you want to stop by and peruse the work of these young artists firsthand.
20 x 200, the brainchild of gallerist Jen Bekman, is devoted to bringing high quality art to the people. The site introduces two new works each week–a photograph and a work on paper, by various emerging artists. Most of the images are available in three sizes; the largest batch being editions of 200 prints sized at 8.5 x 11 inches. Prices begin at $20 for a small print, but there are varying sizes and price points and the site is pleasant and simple to navigate. Every single print is delivered with a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.
Want to frame that shit? A.I. Friedman (no relation, unfortunately) has great readymade frames for not too much and if you wanna bring your print in they can custom frame for less than any other store in the city. The only catch is that you have to be in New York.
As 20 x 200’s website says “everyone needs art”. That goes double for your broke ass.
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