More MLS Musings: Artwork Edition!

MLS Musings!

4 minute read

June 18, 2021

Would you consider a statue of a dog to be “artwork?”

My dad and my step-mom have this porcelain dalmatian that’s so life-like, my 16-month-old son tried to feed it a cracker last weekend.  Is that statue considered “art?”  My daughter wants to know.

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that artwork is very, very personal.

I enjoy two particular types of art: 1) original oil paintings, 2) photography.

Some might not consider photography to be artwork, but when you put a mat and a frame on it, and affix it to the wall, it’s art!  We’ve picked up some spectacular pieces over the years, mainly down in Idaho and Wyoming.  I have one piece in my dining room that’s a photo of the Teton Mountains during the wildfires in Wyoming that turned the sky purple.  A friend of mine once remarked, “I feel like that picture is looking into my soul.”  I can’t find this exact photo in his online gallery, but HERE is something similar.

I also love anything original.  Walking the streets of Arusha, Tanzania back in 2010, my father and I found a street artist who used leftover automotive paints on a canvas made of some sort of random fabric.  We bought three pieces from him, all with bold, vivid colours, brush-strokes as clear as day.  They were undoubtedly original, and he signed his name, “SEDO,” in the bottom right corner.  They were about $10 USD each and we spent $100 to frame them here in Toronto.  That has always been terribly ironic to me.

So when it comes to art, the saying “to each, their own” really rings true.

I can’t really comment on what’s good, what’s bad, what’s in, or what “works” well with a space.

But I can provide some photos from current MLS listings that feature pieces of art that I find interesting, and maybe add some sarcastic comments as we go through them.  Ultimately you, the viewer, will have your own say on whether you like the art or not.

This first one is quite interesting.

That looks like a pirate on the wall, and you can see he’s got a twin on the wall on the other side of the dining room:

Is that a painting?

I can’t really tell.

It almost looks like a statue in a shadow-box frame, I’m not sure.

In any event, it’s not my cup of tea, but I have hockey cards on a shelf on a wall in my basement, so who am I to judge…

But if the two guys in pirate outfits aren’t your thing, then maybe knights would be?

There simply must be a story about those two suits of armour!

Hmmm….are those “staging pears” in the foreground, or real pears?

I’ve never really been one for statues:

What is that?

Who is that?

I’m not an interior designer, so perhaps I’m out of my element here.  I’m the same guy that didn’t know, until I was told this week, that if you’re going to wear blue shorts with a blue shirt, the darker colour has to be on the bottom.  True story.  Thanks to my new best friend, James In The City for that one…

So what do I know about statues in houses?

Very little.

So I also don’t know what to make of this torso in the corner of the dining room:

I know equally as little about statues of medieval female torsos as I do about statues of mom-and-baby dogs placed in the front foyer of luxury homes:

I’ve seen a few home gyms that have been decorated with massive murals and pieces of wall-art.

There are certainly worse things to look at when you’re doing a 10,000 metre row than this:

I have the same Concept 2 Model D rower!

I’ve hurt my back, my foot, and my ego…

This one isn’t quite as impressive, but it’s part of an overall theme that I see in a lot of basement home gyms:

Then again, home gyms aren’t the only rooms in the house decked out with murals and themes.

You can always turn a bedroom into an night-time-in-the-hills theme if you’re willing to go past the walls and get right into the broadloom, window coverings, crown moulding, and ceiling as well:

Alright, back to some weird/cool/unusual/interesting/expensive art.

I thought my father was the only one who had a wall adorned with many, many tribal masks.

But then I saw this Toronto home listed for sale:

Speaking of “things adorning walls,” what are those?

They look like esomeprazole magnesium pills.

No, seriously.  Look:

This living room had some really crazy circus-themed paintings, all what looked like original oil:

Wild!

Nothing says “come on in, make yourself at home,” quite like a painting of a person being shot out of a cannon!

This was a really, really interesting piece to see displayed on the wall in a front foyer of a home:

Biblical?

Not my forte here, but perhaps one of you can shed some light on this?

It looks to be carved from stone.  Could be heavy as hell and worth a fortune.  Or, it could be made from plastic and bought from HomeSense, who knows…

These pieces of art in this movie theatre are very cool!

See how biased I am?

I’m not even a comic book fan, and I don’t watch any of today’s superhero movies because I prefer actual actors and film to CGI.  But I still think those are cool!

Again, art is very, very personal.

To each their own.

But I don’t know what to make of this:

Remember, I’m not merely commenting on the artwork, but rather the fact that these photos are from MLS!  This is a photo from a listing; a photo of a photo.  Not a photo of a living room that contains this photo, but rather a close-up photo of this piece of art, which was then displayed on MLS.  I find that to be odd since I usually take pictures of the property, and not the items within that property.

Last, but certainly not least, we have something that reminds me of the movie “Up.”

Also reminds me of the movie “It” for some reason too.

Combine those two movies, and you have perhaps the scariest children’s movie ever made.

In any event, this is one of the more interesting pieces of art I’ve seen in an MLS photo in a while:

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Written By David Fleming

David Fleming is the author of Toronto Realty Blog, founded in 2007. He combined his passion for writing and real estate to create a space for honest information and two-way communication in a complex and dynamic market. David is a licensed Broker and the Broker of Record for Bosley – Toronto Realty Group

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8 Comments

  1. Pingback: Best Real Estate Agent In GTA – More MLS Musings: Artwork Edition! – Toronto Realty Blog
  2. Ed

    at 8:08 am

    Never mind the wall with the tribal masks, look at the couch opposite it.

  3. Joel

    at 10:48 am

    The balloons and bench is really amazing, until someone sits on it.

  4. Graham

    at 11:03 am

    David, check out 487 Blake Street in London for some unique pig art.

  5. Jenn

    at 12:35 pm

    I also don’t understand the mls photos of art and objects. Like a closeup of the coffee maker? Lol. Unless it comes with the house I don’t know why they would waste one of the twenty allotted photos on it.

  6. EastYorker

    at 1:07 pm

    Why does the darker coloured piece of clothing go on the bottom?

    1. LadyGray

      at 11:40 pm

      For visual balance and grounding.

  7. LadyGray

    at 11:37 pm

    You missed the other wall sculpture on the photo of the “pills”…a rabbit hanging upside down hanging onto a man!

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