With enough creativity, just about anything can be considered art – from pencil sketches to found objects. But all too often, when we’re decorating our walls, we limit the definition of “art” to paintings, prints, posters, and photographs – basically anything flat that you can stick in a frame and hang. But stepping outside that narrow subset of two dimensional artwork is a great way to get a look that’s fresh, unique, and eye-catching. Wall mounted fountains are a great alternative to more conventional art pieces, because while they’re just the right size for a one-to-one swap, they have a tactile, sensory quality that traditional artwork doesn’t.
What Is A Wall Mounted Fountain?
Typically when you think of fountains, you probably think of something with a statuesque quality – a large, freestanding piece with a big basin and a marble carving of a cupid or a woman with a jug of water. Even “wall mounted fountains” probably evoke images of three dimensional lion heads pouring water into a wide reservoir. But modern fountain designs are much more streamlined, made of a single square or rectangular piece of fine stone rather than one that’s ornately carved. These fountains showcase stone with unique colors and distinctive veining, and instead of having a single spout for the water, it pours in a waterfall-like sheet over the whole surface of the stone.
Why A Fountain?
No matter how beautiful or skillfully created, two dimensional works are art are ultimately static. They might be lovely to look at, but without a really skillful eye for design, they rarely engage with the room they’re in. Fountains, on the other hand, are designed to draw attention and engage the senses. Even the simplest fountains feature both sound and movement. The subtle trickle of water sliding down the surface of the fountain catches the light and brings out the color in the stone, while the cascading water itself produces a subtle, relaxing sound.
The Beauty Of Natural Stone
Most traditional fountains are made with a simple, white stone like marble. But with modern wall mounted fountains, the stone itself is the main attraction, so they’re made with more ornamental stones, like slate or black, brown, or green marble. Each piece is unique in both color and texture, with a slightly uneven surface that brings out the full character of the stone. Though there are general colors and color pairings, so you know roughly what you’re getting when you buy, each piece of stone is one of a kind and unique, and specifically chosen for the natural variation in color and texture to be as visually interesting as possible.
Museum Quality Showpiece
Wall mounted fountains also make great art pieces because they’re set up like a permanent installation, with a hefty metal frame and built in lighting to highlight the texture of the stone. This gives them a museum-like quality, the lights at the top of the fountain drawing attention to it and setting it off from the rest of the wall. And the pump that recirculates the water through the fountain is whisper-silent, so the only sound you’ll hear is the gentle tumble of the falling water, adding relaxing ambient noise to your space.
Easy Installation, Easy Elegance
Regardless of the design, fountains come with a certain sense of elegance and sophistication. Historically, that’s because it’s hard to keep any quantity of water moving, and big, carved stone statues aren’t exactly cheap. But even though modern fountains are much easier to set up and maintain, the perception of them as being fundamentally impressive remains. The fountains from Adagio, for example, are only a little bit more complicated to install than a large, heavy painting. They need to be solidly anchored to brackets installed into the wall because they’re quite heavy, and sit a bit farther away from the wall than a painting would, but other than needing to be plugged into an outlet to power the water pump and built in lights, they don’t require any invasive construction.
But What About Maintenance?
Probably the one big drawback of choosing a wall mounted fountain over a more traditional piece of art is that you will need to maintain it. On the most basic level, water moving through the fountain will evaporate over time, and you’ll need to ensure the reservoir stays filled to keep the pump functioning properly. You also need to be a bit careful about what type of water you use, to prevent calcium or other mineral deposits from building up on the stone and avoid the growth of algae. A fountain that uses only distilled water will only need to be cleaned about twice a year, though, and even then only needs to be drained and gently scrubbed down to prevent mineral buildup over time.
If you’re looking for a unique and beautiful way to decorate your walls that deviates from the tried-and-true, art-in-a-frame combination, a wall hung fountain is a great place to start. They even do double duty as passive humidifiers!
