Bringing art to life
Lighting is crucial to bringing art to life; good lighting has the ability to transform a piece of art and its surroundings. Driven by an appreciation and passion for art, TM Lighting set out to address the largely unsatisfactory way in which art is lit in private residential settings, both on land and at sea.…
Lighting is crucial to bringing art to life; good lighting has the ability to transform a piece of art and its surroundings. Driven by an appreciation and passion for art, TM Lighting set out to address the largely unsatisfactory way in which art is lit in private residential settings, both on land and at sea. Andrew Molyneux, co-founder of the company, goes through the technology and techniques available to show art on board to its best.
With TM’s new generation of LED technology, it is now possible to create museum-grade lighting to light artwork on board, so that a superior viewing experience continues beyond the auction, or gallery setting. A well-lit artwork creates warmth through full colour; enhances atmosphere and intimacy with layers of light, and exposes textures and lustre of artwork media.
The picture light was often dismissed as old-fashioned, expensive and ineffective, detracting from the beauty of the artwork it is intended to enhance, as well as being damaging to the art. In the past, picture lights used incandescent light sources emitting Infrared, Ultraviolet and a great deal of forward heat. While this outdated technology is still available, a new wave of picture lights, incorporating the latest technology have brought these back to the forefront of best practice when lighting art.
The principal benefit of using LEDs is that harmful rays are neutralised – important when lighting delicate items such as watercolour paintings, textiles, delicate pigments and fabrics over a sustained period of time. TM Lighting’s LED picture lights have the option of being individually tunable which means that you can set precise lux levels for each work, for both increased conservation control and room balancing.
LED picture lights have the added benefit of dramatically reducing energy consumption and maintenance costs. We advise only a careful selection of LED equipment should be used to light art – it is essential that the product has a full spectrum of colour, ideally 95+ CRI [color rendering index is a quantitative measure of the ability of a light source to reveal the colors of various objects faithfully] and above, to ensure all of the colours in the artwork are vivid and vibrant.
Most recently, we have introduced the TM Slim Light to our collection of artwork lighting products to create a slimmer and more discrete frame that is practical, flexible, lightweight and ideal for lighting smaller works of art. The ease of use and versatility of the TM Slim Light lends itself to use on board as its simple installation process allows boat owners to create a ‘revolving gallery’ with the flexibility to regularly exchange artwork from their homes on land to their boats.
How you light art in different environments comes down to the feel of the interior and the artwork in question. In a contemporary environment there may be more flexibility to use a discreet track and spotlight solution, offering greater flexibility in the lighting scheme particularly if the client has a rolling/curated art collection. In a more classical setting or traditional interior consider using picture lights instead of spotlights. Both have their own benefits but the use of picture lights provides a more precise lighting tool in comparison with spotlights, which can create scallops of light above the artwork.
Lighting has a direct impact on the atmosphere of a room. You can create drama with the way you illuminate specific pieces. Three easy techniques achieve very different atmospheres in the room:
Casual solution – Pick out a key picture within the group and light only this and let the light spill onto other works.
Intermediate solution – Use accent lights to project a pool of light onto the group of artwork.
Serious collection solution – With new LED lighting techniques, it’s possible to light every piece specifically using individual lights per artwork.
With TM’s new generation of LED technology, it is now possible to create museum-grade lighting to light artwork on board, so that a superior viewing experience continues beyond the auction, or gallery setting. A well-lit artwork creates warmth through full colour; enhances atmosphere and intimacy with layers of light, and exposes textures and lustre of artwork media.
The picture light was often dismissed as old-fashioned, expensive and ineffective, detracting from the beauty of the artwork it is intended to enhance, as well as being damaging to the art. In the past, picture lights used incandescent light sources emitting Infrared, Ultraviolet and a great deal of forward heat. While this outdated technology is still available, a new wave of picture lights, incorporating the latest technology have brought these back to the forefront of best practice when lighting art.
The principal benefit of using LEDs is that harmful rays are neutralised – important when lighting delicate items such as watercolour paintings, textiles, delicate pigments and fabrics over a sustained period of time. TM Lighting’s LED picture lights have the option of being individually tunable which means that you can set precise lux levels for each work, for both increased conservation control and room balancing.
LED picture lights have the added benefit of dramatically reducing energy consumption and maintenance costs. We advise only a careful selection of LED equipment should be used to light art – it is essential that the product has a full spectrum of colour, ideally 95+ CRI [color rendering index is a quantitative measure of the ability of a light source to reveal the colors of various objects faithfully] and above, to ensure all of the colours in the artwork are vivid and vibrant.
Most recently, we have introduced the TM Slim Light to our collection of artwork lighting products to create a slimmer and more discrete frame that is practical, flexible, lightweight and ideal for lighting smaller works of art. The ease of use and versatility of the TM Slim Light lends itself to use on board as its simple installation process allows boat owners to create a ‘revolving gallery’ with the flexibility to regularly exchange artwork from their homes on land to their boats.
How you light art in different environments comes down to the feel of the interior and the artwork in question. In a contemporary environment there may be more flexibility to use a discreet track and spotlight solution, offering greater flexibility in the lighting scheme particularly if the client has a rolling/curated art collection. In a more classical setting or traditional interior consider using picture lights instead of spotlights. Both have their own benefits but the use of picture lights provides a more precise lighting tool in comparison with spotlights, which can create scallops of light above the artwork.
Andrew Molyneux and Harry Triggs, founders of TM Lighting
Lighting has a direct impact on the atmosphere of a room. You can create drama with the way you illuminate specific pieces. Three easy techniques achieve very different atmospheres in the room:
Casual solution – Pick out a key picture within the group and light only this and let the light spill onto other works.
Intermediate solution – Use accent lights to project a pool of light onto the group of artwork.
Serious collection solution – With new LED lighting techniques, it’s possible to light every piece specifically using individual lights per artwork.
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