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The One Thing My Coworkers All Agree On

I work with a pretty creative and diverse bunch here in the ArtSelect web department, so opinions are often varied. Yet there's one thing they all seem to love right now: the oversized art print I currently have hanging on the wall behind my desk.

Poppy Chromatic
By Robert Mertens

I tend to switch the art in that location a lot, trying different things out. But as soon as I put up Poppy Chromatic by Robert Mertens, everyone took notice.

It's a real show-stopper and conversation piece. For starters, it's an oversized art print, measuring 41.4" x 41.4", so you really can't miss it. And the colors are strikingly vibrant, almost phosphorescent! Compositionally, though, it's quite simple; there are just 3 poppies against a very neutral background. So between all those elements, what you have is a bright, bold, beautiful work of art that also holds understated elegance.

Stepped Gold Frame

When I was custom framing this piece, I decided to use a very ornate, gold frame. You might initially think that a stand-out frame would be too much for this brilliant piece, but it really works because of the artwork's streamlined composition and neutral background. Also, the colors of the frame are found in the print itself, which draws the whole theme together beautifully.

Because the frame is stepped, it provides somewhat of a 3-D platform that calls even more attention to the image. And you probably noticed that there is no mat involved. That's because, between the ornate frame and the largeness of the image, I decided it would be best to keep things simple and leave it out.

So, what else can I say? This work of art is cheery, luminous and inspiring, and it makes me happy to look at it. I can't tell you how many of my co-workers have come up to me and joked, "If that work of art goes missing, you’ll know who did it!" But the problem is, I won't, since everybody loves it.

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