Cave men decorated their dwellings with drawings depicting the events of their lives. Mayans hacked their stories into the stone walls of their enormous structures, and the pharaohs' talented artists decorated pyramid walls with art celebrating the magnificence of the pharaoh. Michelangelo painted biblical scenes on the walls and ceilings of the chapels of his day. You get the gist - for thousands of years, humans have not been able to leave the surface of the walls around them untouched.
So how have we allowed our walls to morph into boring expanses of beige, bland blank? Are we afraid to let our lives and our passions show on our walls? Are we too wimpy to move away from the white and sparse designer look with the obligatory three accessory items 'casually' displayed on the mantel?
Or is there so much visual noise in our lives that we need the peaceful and calming effect of blank walls when we finally crash at home or in our hotel room?
We feel that there is no right answer, but we do like walls that get us thinking or make us smile. We may not want them in our homes, but we love the ones we've seen in restaurants, hair salons, cafes and shops.
We admire the work of artists and designers who are not afraid to move beyond the limits of canvas and create visions that should forever alter the meaning of "staring at the walls" and "watching paint dry."
