Be a better host by leaning on the art in your interior decor
Art, when intentionally selected and reflective of who you are can be an incredible conversation starter. Hosting a dinner party should always be done with intention and focus, and art can be a natural and fascinating place to start.
Two pro tips here.
Let art lead the way. Let it be prominent! Let it be centered. Point your lights to it, give it breathing room, let it take command of the room. You can let your furniture and decor purchases be in response to the art. Base everything around the art.
Do not be afraid to buy bold, opinionated art. If you like it, buy it. It will spark super interesting conversations.
I always recommend you have a few questions you can ask an interested guest. It doesn’t need to be canned, but when you hang a piece with the thought of having it as a conversation starter, have some genuine curiosity about how other people react to it.
Point out components of the piece that create tension (tensions are always rich conversation starters). Bring in your own reaction to the piece as an opportunity for them to share theirs.
There are lots of ways to do dinner parties, and a lot of them are bad.
Read The Art of Gathering for help on that front. In that book Parker gives you permission to be a little structured in your parties. I host a lot of dinner parties and never shy away from prompts and group questions. It’s not as classroom-like as it sounds.
Rather, it’s an opportunity for everyone in the group to be in the same conversation, to be unified as a gathering. Art makes for super interesting prompts. This is especially so when you have gathered your thoughts about it, and know how to ask a good question. A good question is layered and has a multitude of ways it can be answered.
Gathering your thoughts about art and having a complex understanding of how it fits into your life, as well as into the culture as a whole is a critical part in going from owning art to being an art collector.
Did you know that I have a YouTube channel? It is completely geared toward integrating the arts into our everyday life in a super accessible and joyful way. youtube.com/@dlartconsulting