Faux Painting is a technique of painting on walls that is very ancient. The history of Faux Painting itself can be traced back to prehistoric times.
There are many ways to work on and explore wall decorations. Walls can also be treated by applying various colors to achieve a certain mood in decoration.
In recent times, the world of home decoration, often referred to as Homedecor, has been flourishing rapidly. Almost everyone wants to express their identity through unique decorations in their homes.
Various styles ranging from Victorian, Rustic, to Shabby Chic are widely used as supporting elements. Some even combine these various styles eclectically – mixing one with another.
To achieve the desired decorative atmosphere, the use of these elements is essential, starting from the selection of appropriate furniture, along with an emphasis on wall decor – wall decorations, and most fundamentally, the walls themselves.
Walls are undoubtedly the most essential part of a building or a home. Besides their function as support, walls can also serve as room dividers that provide specific functions and privacy to a space.
However, a wall also plays an important role in room or home decoration. By working on and exploring the wall itself, we can achieve a different mood and style according to our desires.
There are many ways to work on and explore walls, from hanging various decorative elements such as paintings, crafts, or photographs. Walls can also be treated by applying various colors to create a specific mood.
On the other hand, walls can also function as a canvas or paper ready for us to work with various visual elements. One of the wall painting techniques, or one could say, wall finishing techniques, is Faux Painting.
The term Faux Painting may be somewhat unfamiliar to us in Indonesia, but this finishing technique has been practiced for centuries. Faux Painting comes from the French word “Faux,” which means false or fake, while “Painting,” as we already know, is derived from English and means painting or coloring.
The history of Faux Painting can be traced back to prehistoric times when people used to draw on cave walls, which served as their dwellings. This practice continued in later times, for example, in ancient Egypt, where stories were depicted on pyramid walls through visual language or visual communication.
The technique of drawing on walls was only used decoratively in the Mesopotamian civilization, where the technique of plastering with cement, known as stucco, had already been discovered.
This technique continued to evolve into classical times or the Greco-Roman era. During this period, wall painting practices became more developed. Paintings were no longer in the form of stories or narratives but were primarily decorative in function.
Paintings aimed to mimic natural objects, or in this case, natural textures. Therefore, during this period, many paintings were found to imitate wood textures, natural stone textures, and so on. The mimesis value – imitation during this time was very strong, so an artist working with this technique was considered successful when they could deceive their viewers into thinking that their painting was a real object.
The Faux Painting technique disappeared or was considered unpopular in some periods. However, around the 19th century AD, when classical styles began to resurface in the form of Neoclassicism, Faux Painting regained popularity. In later times, this technique became even more popular, with many exploring and experimenting with different forms.
This technique also emerged in the early 20th century during the Art Deco era and developed as a decorative form in public and commercial spaces. In the future, the Faux Painting technique was further elaborated with the formulation of methods and types of techniques within it. Read the next article for more information…
Source:
- Shekhar, R.K.C. (2005) Academic Dictionary of Architecture. Delhi: Isha Books, p. 110. ISBN 9788182051850
- www.wikipedia.org
