Capturing the Look : Decor Art Gallery embellishes a large selection of affordable reproductions using frames and matting that appear expensive.

Art prints, beautifully framed and at reasonable prices. This is the premise of the recently opened Decor Art Gal lery in Studio City. For instant decorative enhancement, hundreds of prints (reproductions) and lithographs, ranging from current California artists to the old masters, are ready to take home.

Open since May, business has been so solid, says owner Lynne Crandall, that she has replaced her entire inventory.

You’ll find abstracts, florals or landscapes to decorate an entire home or office. Crandall’s knowledge of art is apparent in the selection and her taste shows in the framing.

All framing, incidentally, is done at the Van Nuys factory, to Crandall’s specifications.

We especially like use of the “image matting” technique, where the matting becomes a part of the print, giving the piece an extraordinary three-dimensional look that is particularly effective with landscapes. This generally runs approximately $50 more than regular matted pieces.

Should the customer want to change a matting color or the frame, that is done at no extra charge.

Prices overall range from $45 to $350.

At $45 each, we found two ethereal prints by Michael Parkes, a contemporary surrealist whose originals go for $100,000 and up. These measure 18 by 18 inches, with a three-inch matting and gold frames.

The highest priced item in the gallery is a numbered lithograph by Sylvia Hamilton Goulden, a Studio City artist known for her figurative images.

Measuring 38 by 48 inches and double-matted in a lacquer frame, the price is $350.

“The Kiss,” by turn-of-the century Austrian painter Gustav Klimt, would cover a lot of wall space with drama, measuring 38 inches wide by 56 inches long.

It is double-framed with gold on the inside and an outer frame of black stucco. (Klimt’s paintings were the inspiration for the Oscar-winning costumes for Francis Ford Coppola’s “Dracula.”) Handsome and beautifully priced at $250, the piece contains about $500 worth of framing alone.

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For a charming print (34 by 44 inches) of a watercolor by Howard Behrens depicting a quaint village in the south of France, Villefranche/Mer, you may select your frame for $125.

The display piece has a mat with an open channel cut that gives the impression of being triple-matted, when actually it is double. This was priced at a Los Angeles gallery at $175, and the framing was much less impressive.

A work by contemporary landscape artist Thomas McKnight measures 36 by 36 inches, is double-matted in a two-inch frame and sells for $98, as compared to $150 at some galleries.

You will find beautifully framed reproductions by well-known artists, from Van Gogh to Peter Max, at this new San Fernando Valley gallery, and the prices are definitely right, mainly because of Crandall’s talent at making the framing look much more expensive than it is.

She is available by appointment at your home or office.

Geri Cook’s Bargains column runs every Friday in Valley Life! Questions about shopping may be sent to her, in care of Valley Life!, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, CA 91311. Letters will not be answered individually, but topics of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Geri Cook can be heard from 9 to 10 a.m. on Saturdays on KIEV 870-AM.

WHERE TO SHOP

What: Decor Art Gallery.

Location: 12149 Ventura Blvd., Studio City.

Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, Sunday by appointment.

Cards: American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Visa.

Call: (818) 755-0755.