Framing and Hanging

Richard Hassell is an artist as well as an architect and interior designer. As such the interaction of art with space, human scale and contemporary details are very important to him.

Here we share his advice on how these artworks can be displayed to best effect.

Arranging serial pieces to create larger works

Richard makes his art in series, and this gives great opportunities to work with multiple pieces. The pieces are conceived as being placed together, where the differences and similarities can be enjoyed.

The typical size is very harmonious with interior design. Each piece is 1m2, which is A0 size, 84 x 118cm (33.1 x 46.8 inches). Two or three pieces (diptych or triptych) in a row are just right for over a bed, or behind a sofa, while 4 or 6 give a very impressive set. For instance the Chinese New Year set above is around 3.6m x 1.2m (approximately 12 feet wide by 4 feet high)

For some examples of how to use the artworks, click on the link below.

framing works on paper

The Strange Creatures series have interesting shapes derived from their fractal structures. We recommend not using a mount as it distracts from the relationship of the shape to the edge of the page, as well as showing the signature, date and edition numbers well. Instead, Richard generally frames them with a simple shadow box detail. We have attached some images of this, which you can give your framer, or contact us for the technical specification.

If you do prefer framing with a mount, the Full House series of prints was designed to work with a mount, as the prints have a rectangular edge and a fade-to-black detail, and they use a seal detail in this border for the signature and edition number, so the mount can be run right up to the image edge. Richard uses black silk mounts with a dark wood frame which work very well to make the lighter colours of the prints glow. Metallic shot silks in silver/black or gold/black or in pewter/brown can also look spectacular.

scroll series

Some formats are designed as a scroll series, inspired by Richard’s love of Chinese and Japanese ink painting. These prints use the same kozo (Mulberrry) washi paper that Japanese artists use, and they can be either framed, or scroll mounted in a custom made Paulownia wood box, just as Japanese scrolls have been kept for centuries. Richard uses a Chinese craftsman in Singapore to mount the scrolls. He is not to be hurried, so they take some time! The scrolls are designed with a seal, signature and edition number in a cartouche in the border of the image, allowing the scroll series works to be mounted with the silk coming right up to the image.

The traditional mounting uses rice-paper glue, which is acid free and non-permanent - by wetting the work, it can be remounted in future. This is done with traditional ink paintings on Chinese rice or kozo paper and does not damage the work.

Once again, the sizes are kept uniform to enable them to be displayed as a set, or else interchanged. The boxes easily stack in a bookshelf and look attractive on their own.