How Important It Is to Include Art and Sculptures in the Workplaces - Essay Example

Art Business organizations were once viewing the integration of art and sculpture into their workplace as a nicety rather than necessity. Times have changed. Many corporate willingly spend a quantum of money for incorporating art work and sculptures into their office infrastructure because of the subtle yet valuable returns brought by the artworks to the corporate culture. Art works help in enlivening the open spaces at the workplace, enhancing the building infrastructure, and stimulating creativity in thinking and action. Cost alone can neither qualify nor quantify the intrinsic value of art at workplaces. As a person from the design community, I feel that it is my responsibility to educate clients and make them aware of how important it is to include art and sculptures in the scope of workplaces. I would give a general idea of how their characteristics and style fit the organization’s diverse work areas and where to place them, some of the initial works that an international company should consider for acquisition of loan and how budget plans are to be made, few examples of real artworks that suits for organization, what security measures are to be considered, and what are the business advantages of an art collection and how can they influence the employee’s interest and productivity. A corporate’s infrastructure may be a multi-story building that is vast in area and incorporating several public areas like lobby, cafeteria and various departments like human resource, finance, research and development, and executive office rooms. The lobby is the first and foremost area of a corporate building that catches the eye of a guest and its outlook has to be paramount. Art and sculpture placed in the lobby must reflect the attitude, personality, and brand of the company (Nair, 2013). Huge organization often opts for triple ceiling cathedral-style spaces for their lobby. So proper selection of decor elements, pieces of furniture, wall and floor colors are very important as they complement the grand look and aesthetics of the lobby area. The reception desk may contain one or two artful objects reflecting the company’s values and beliefs and the desk may partially or totally face the main entrance (Nair, 2013). Waiting zones may be spread around the lobby and may have bonsais in and around them. There may be several floors and different departments functioning in them. At each and every floor a centralized spot may be selected and elegant water features with innovative designs and styles can be created. Native sculptures and murals can be used to cover the walls through which we can incorporate the local culture into the artworks (Nair, 2013). Each floor’s central location may have a large wall hanging picture that correlates to the theme of the department functioning in that particular floor. A particular phase of the wall may be used for displaying portraits of employees as individuals or teams who have contributed to the success of the company or have made remarkable achievements. Light fixtures can be incorporated into the art works and sculptures, so that they could serve both as an element of the decor as well as fulfill their functional requirement (Nair, 2013). For a multi–story cathedral like infrastructure, multifaceted chandeliers at the central position of the building will be a stunning piece of assertion. Art pieces incorporating lighting designs in glass paintings, metal sculptures, and crystals will be astounding (Nair, 2013). For domains like human resource and finance traditional fixtures can be installed, while modern fixtures can be used for the domains of research and development, sales and marketing, corporate training, and others. Though art enhances the workplace by impressing the clients visually and creating a feeling of comfort and familiarity to the employees, placing them at right places in and around is even more important. Some design parameters are to be followed to make sure that the art pieces are placed at the right places and ensure their visibility (Ganapathy, 2010). For this purpose special attention must be paid on the nature of frames used, spacing between their placing, breathing area around the sculptures, furnishings, accessories, background color of the walls, and others. Art pieces like sculptures must be placed in such a way that their center is at the eye level of the viewers. Spacing the sculptures and other art works at strategic levels is very important because they can be pleasurably visualized from a low viewing angle (Ganapathy, 2010). While incorporating art work into the work space it is always good to keep in mind that the art work should build up a sense of harmony without affecting the balance of the workspace. Companies may decide upon the type and extent of artworks to be incorporated into their workspace based on their budgets and available fund. When extensive artwork is needed, companies can opt for loans to purchase them or even sometimes go for leasing. When the company decides to approach the bank for loans, it is better to consider some of the below mentioned strategies in their pursuit for monetary help. Banks have a tendency to sanction loans for companies with good operating histories. The banks are always keen about the company’s cash flow management. The company has to prepare a cash flow projection statement that includes safe loan repayment schedules and it should be very convincing to the bank officials (“Financing the business.” n. d.). The company’s accounts management department can work calculating the credit rating of the company using numerical methods like FICO. Banks would offer loans for companies evaluating their credit worthiness (“Financing the business.” n. d.). Inventory of the business particulars highlighting the number of years the company running business, size of the company with number of total branches, and others are to be prepared as the banks evaluate the collateral to decide upon the amount of money they would lend to the company (“Financing the business.” n. d.). So these initial works can positively aid the company in the process of loan acquisition. Budgets play a major role in a company’s exertion to bring art into their work space. How much budget is to be allotted for artworks depends on the extent of artistic requirement of the company and the amount quoted by various architects for those requirements. Committees can be formed to decide both the charitable and artistic support (“Business: Integrating art,” n. d.). If the company is supposed to manage with a tight budget, it can opt for leasing artworks. There are several art galleries offering rental services in this regard (“Business: Integrating art,” n. d.). It is always good for a company to consider its art collection as an integral part of its investment portfolio. Organization can choose paintings with inspirational themes and place them at the work spot of their employees in order to motivate and encourage them. ‘Hope’ an original art piece from Kevin Wright one of the famous contemporary artists would be a right choice. In his masterpiece, he portrays a lonely kite flying high in air, battling the bewildering thunder storms (Wright, 2005). It symbolizes optimism and hopefulness. Another vintage work ‘Watermark’ by Robert Rauschenberg, can suit best for a corporate. In his work, Robert has overlapped several images that may look abstract from a distant view, but on close observation each image is inter linked with one another (Rauschenberg, 1973). This is an excellent work symbolizing association and harmonization needed for a corporate. ‘Brain/Cloud’ a creation of John Baldessari, is an extraordinary choice for a corporate. In his work, John portrays a palm tree as an Works cited Baldessari, John. “Brain/Cloud.” Ebay, 2009. Web. 13 Mar 2015. http://www.ebay.com/itm/John-Baldessari-Brain-Cloud-With-Seascape-and-Palm-Tree-2009-/171704391098 “Business: Integrating art into the workplace, architecture & planning.” Business to arts, n. d. Web. 13 Mar 2015. http://www.businesstoarts.ie/business/integrating-art-into-the-workplace/ “Financing the business.” My own business, n. d. Web. 13 Mar 2015. http://www.myownbusiness.org/s8/ Ganapathy, Deepti. “ Workplace: Adding aesthetics to workplace.” Times of India, 09 Apr 2010. Web. 13 Mar 2015. http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:LowLevelEntityToPrint_TOI&Type=text/html&Locale=english-skin-custom&Path=TOIBG/2010/04/09&ID=Ar04601 Mazarella, Frances. “Interior Design.” Wbdg, 21 Apr 2011. Web. 13 Mar 2015. http://www.wbdg.org/design/dd_interiordsgn.php Nair, Radhika P. “Office lobby: How to go about building that good first impression.” The Economic Times, 22 Jun 2013. Web. 13 Mar 2015. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-06-22/news/40134509_1_lobby-decor-first-space Rauschenberg, Robert. “Watermark.” Ebay, 1973.http://www.ebay.com/itm/Robert-Rauschenberg-Watermark-1973-Signed-Limited-Edition-Fine-Art-Print-/171402482324?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276 Wright, Kevin. “Hope.”Artspan,2005. Web. 13 Mar 2015. http://www.artspan.com/art/63420-11853/all-art/Painting/Acrylic/Symbolism/hope.html Read More