Wonderwalls

Eclipse by Lori Weitzner.

Getting arty
Another way to make a bold statement on walls is with a carefully-chosen piece of artwork.

British photo-artist Michael Banks, who specialises in providing artwork for hotels, office and restaurant interiors, says selecting the right artwork in a commercial space is crucial.

“An interior environment is the sum of many parts – style, lighting, furniture, fabrics, window treatments, accessories – but often the most readily understandable and most visible part of this whole, to the viewing public, is the artwork. So this has to be absolutely right in terms of its colour, size and physical format.”

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Banks is famous for his highly abstract photo-art. “The art I create is very different and unique, very 21st century, and not what you expect from photography,” Banks explained. “I am trying to push the envelope continually, in the same way as interior designers and architects are advancing.”

As interiors get more cutting-edge, Banks’s latest project is the much-anticipated, funkily-designed Aloft Hotel in Abu Dhabi, for which he supplied over 750 original photo-art works for the guestrooms, suites and corridors.

“Contemporary architecture and interior design is itself becoming more abstract and avant-garde, and artwork that is more abstract and forward-looking, as mine is, fits well with this. I am seeing a big trend in the use of more abstract imagery that can have a more universal appeal, and cross cultural and geographical borders.”