Total re-wall: the 11 best sites for buying geek art
Flat looking sparser than a prison cell? Time to deck the walls with geeky artwork...
Now you’ve finally decided on your smartphone’s wallpaper, it’s time address the other blank canvas in your life – your home’s bare and unadorned walls.
But where to start? Most of us don’t have thousands to splurge an original Picasso, and neither do we want to hang up a generic picture of a flower that says nothing about our exquisite geek tastes.
That’s why we’ve rounded up our favourite sites for affordable and subtly nerdy artwork. Pick your fresh prints, then find out how to hang them properly using our guide on the last page…
1) Artfinder
If you want a painting rather than a print hanging above your fireplace, you’re probably going to have to give Sotheby’s a wide berth. Luckily, Artfinder serves up a huge selection of original paintings for prices that don’t require a Euromillions jackpot.
Graffiti artist Dan Kitchener’s Blade Runner–esque canvases are our among the many saved to our ‘favourites’ list. The site also handily lets you follow favourite artists and alerts you when they put new paintings on sale.
This painting: ‘City Street’, Dan Kitchener (£250, sold)
2) We Are Dorothy
From classic renderings of long gone football grounds to design-led drawings of cultural hotspots like Manchester’s Hacienda, We Are Dorothy sells some of the sharpest art on the web.
Prices start at £35 for 40x50cm frameless prints, like the history of electronic music circuit board above, rising to £100 for limited edition lithos. Whatever you pick, it’ll be a step up from a blu–tacked Pulp Fiction poster.
This print: Electric Love Blueprint (£35)
3) Cook & Becker
Video games contain some of modern art’s finest creations, so why not make your lounge a tribute to every game you’ve been debilitatingly addicted to?
This store has become the go-to haunt for prints of both classic and current games. You can pick up modern illustrations of vintage games such as Streets of Rage, or go for something more arty like this stunning Fellow Travellers print from Journey.
This print: Fellow Travellers (£95)
Visit Cook & Becker
4) Minalima
Set up by the prop designers behind the Harry Potter film series, Minalima sells its own original prints under different strands.
The Woop Studios range has an array of stunning images, especially for language pedants who can’t get enough of a collective noun. Think bold, colourful visualisations of A Clattering of Choughs (above) or An Opera of Canaries. Prices start at £80 for small prints.
This print: A Clattering of Choughs (from £79)
5) East End Prints
A big supporter of emerging artists, East End Prints is the perfect destination for picking up unique works from independent designers that are a step above your average Athena fair.
The selection is vast, but Jazzberry Blue’s simple ‘Solar System’ print sates our inner astro-geek nicely. You’ll also find minimalist movie posters and vintage, pre-Stuff magazine covers.
This print: Solar System (£20)
6) Jealous Gallery
Shoreditch’s Jealous Gallery has garnered a reputation as one of the capital’s hottest studios, with graduates and established names showing off their work there.
Its online store has a plethora of limited edition artwork, with prices ranging from £125 up into the high thousands. Jess Wilson’s Colour Wheel Experiment, at £295, is a bright, stunning satin print that should satisfy design nerds everywhere.
This print: Colour Wheel Experiment 1 (£295)
7) Rise Art
Rise prides itself on the fact that everything it sells is hand-picked by a panel of experts, from art critics to curators.
The result is an overwhelming collection of paintings, photography and prints, all of which can either be bought outright or rented until you fancy a change. There are plenty of works available to buy for under £100, with rentals from as low as £25.
This print: Map of NYC (£72)
8) Print Club
This Dalston-based studio has a vast collection of unique, sub-£1000 screenprints. We’re particular fans of its film- and book-inspired posters, like Joe Vass’s ‘Rum Diary No 2’, which twist classic images into something new and intriguing.
If you fancy making your own artwork or t-shirts, it also offers screenprinting courses that start from £50.
This print: The Rum Diary No 2 (£80)
9) Atom Gallery
Based in London’s Finsbury Park, Atom specialises in affordable contemporary art and screen prints. Its online store serves up work from recent exhibitions held in its space in the capital, with small prints starting at £30.
Dig a little deeper, though, and you’ll find beauties like this limited edition Mark Perronet print of a Fender Concert amp.
This print: Fender Concert Amp (£110)
10) King and McGaw
This Sussex store is the place to go for an affordable print of that Cezanne you saw while nosing around National Gallery. There’s also everything from Mario Testino reprints to a fine collection of retro movie prints, especially the Hammer selection.
If the thought of Christopher Lee looming from your wall is too terrifying, then go for this ace Quartermass Experiment one instead.
This print: Quartermass Experiment (£15, unframed)
Visit King and McGaw
11) Caught By The River
This nature and travel site has a long–standing relationship with Stanley Donwood, whose woodcuts and prints shot to fame after his album cover artwork for former university pals Radiohead.
But it’s his brooding prints of Dorset’s holloways and ancient paths, made for a project with nature writer Robert Macfarlane, that really stand out inside a fancy black frame.
This print: Holloway (£60)
How to display your art
Interiors blogger Anna Lysik from Don’t Cramp My Style reveals how to get the proportions right when it comes to hanging your fresh prints.
1. Get the height right.
If there’s no furniture in the way, hang at around eye level. If you’re hanging above a sofa or cabinet, leave at least a 20cm gap between your furniture and frame, and then 10 to 15cm between each frame.
2. Plan your layout
Gather all the prints, place them on the floor and create a layout before you start putting in picture hooks.
Once you are happy with it, make a template with cardboard for each piece, placing them on the wall where you want your pictures to go. Only then is it time to get hammering.
3. Pick the right frame
For vintage prints, a patterned and ornate frame is best. If a picture is a simple illustration then straight black frames are ideal.
There is a trend towards using an ornate old school frame with modern art, but this only suits fancy, eclectic homes, rather than tech-packed modern flats.
Mark Wilson
Features editor 
