Barewalls Public Relations

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Move over, Van Gogh, here comes Rothko!

Dig into your Personal Taste!

Cambridge, MA (October 18, 1999) -- What do people put up on their bare walls these days? Interestingly enough, after years of sweeping homogeneity, regional differences are surfacing again in the U.S. This, indicated by a new measure of public taste, the PPI (Barewalls's Print and Poster Index).

Just last October, Vincent van Gogh was wildly popular, with "Starry Night" topping all seven regional lists in the U.S. In fact, four of van Gogh's works ("Starry Night," "Starry Night Over the Rhone," "Wheat Field" and "Café Terrasse on the Place du Forum") occupied 16 of the top 21 slots.

Conversely, the PPI now shows that during the first quarter of 2000, public taste was composed of a highly varied palette, with a total of 17 different artists sharing the top positions, through a wide variety of media, including photography, motivational posters and vintage advertising.

Mark Rothko's "Earth and Green" premiered in third position in the South West -- a region, incidentally, which distinguished itself entirely from current national choices, by putting Leonetto Cappiello's vintage 1922 poster, "Victoria Arduino" in top position, followed by the stunning "Views of Paris / The River Seine" by an unknown photographer.

Lorne Lieberman, co-founder of Barewalls, notes, "It seems that after reaching for the familiar, people are now becoming more curious, boldly exploring new artists, and making the most of the richness and variety of contemporary art reproduction. This may explain why they are covering their bare walls with pieces that more closely reflect regional and individual tastes."

For more about regional print and poster preferences, visit the Barewalls Voyeur at: http://www.barewalls.com/whatshot/voyeur.asp.

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