deedee9:14

The Negative Emotion Project

2008-04-25T08:21:00.000-07:00

I'm laughing as I type this because I remember a time in my life when I was told tat I was too emotional a person. While other artists swear by the ruling of their emotions, over the last few years I have come to realize that it's okay to be emotional but I still needed better control over how things effected me.

Always looking for a creative angle, my partner inspired me to undertake a new artistic project with a painting. I marvel at his patience and depth of character so undertaking this was as much a tribute to him as it was to myself.

The goal was to take a canvas and apply a layer of paint or strokes to it every time I had to deal with something emotional that seemed to be having a negative effect on me. I tried the project for two weeks and the conclusion is that I have a lot more peace and calmness in myself. I am of course, grateful for his suggestion because it was a constructive method of feedback that worked in harmony with who I am. While merely pointing out a character flaw is easy, it takes a good deal of trust and strength on my part to accept the idea and run with it.

As you can see here, the piece is not like my more typical structured paintings. Maybe one day I'll examine the correlation between my stuctured work and the almost desperate way I cling to that structure versus my current emotional state. I would venture to say somewhere in there my own control issues are prevalent. But with this piece I can say first and foremost it's been fun.

Several times during those two weeks, 14 times to be exact, I applied a layer of black paint to the canvas in an effort to expunge some negative emotion I was feeling. Anger, sadness, exhaustion, frustration... they all came out in layers of varying thickness and depth, with any number of brush strokes.

By the end of it, I think the work has a definite underlying structure and still appeals to my aesthetic side. All my thanks to N. for believing in me.

Art Auction Benefit

2008-04-16T11:10:00.000-07:00

Artwork by Stella Hultberg

As many of you know I support causes close to my heart and donate works annually in support of them. That said, I hope you can all join me next month at a charity auction that is near and dear to my heart.

Many women around the world and even within my own family have suffered violence, poverty, and incredible indignity solely based on their gender. In support of the Care.org organisation, please come say hello and share a toast at Industrielle's Charity Event: KIND WOMEN FOR WOMANKIND: AN ART AUCTION TO BENEFIT WOMEN OF VIOLENCE

MAY 8, 2008 7 - 9PM
HORS DOEUVRES, ENTERTAINMENT, ART!!!

Bidding on pieces including my piece "Stones No. 3 - Balancing Act" will take place in-store or online at INDUSTRIELLEGALLERY.COM

PROCEEDS TO BENEFIT CARE.org

Industrielle Gallery
33 Grand Ave
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 271-0633

Asking the Hard Questions

2008-04-04T07:11:00.000-07:00

In my life outside the art world I am an Interaction Designer... among other things. I would like to think that what makes me so good at my job is the fact that I attempt to understand people's motivations and the effects that certain behaviours can cause on certain environments. A lot of designers spend a great deal of time merely planning out the functionality of a product (how a user gets from A to C) but few of us rarely seem to question other aspects like, does this product really truly serve the needs of the user and how greatly should I consider abuses of my product?

We rarely talk about the dark side of the way products can be abused unit it's too late. Today most major portals have removed open chat features from their sites because of rampant abuse. MSN was one of the first to close down their chat rooms because of abuse of minors. While we rushed to build a great new communication tool, why did it seem we were incapable of protecting our most valuable asset, our users? And is it even our right or responsibility to do so? (Is this what people refer to as corporate responsibility?)

Over the years I've started feeling personally responsible for the things I help create and foist on the world. I feel responsible for helping maintain a level of trust between my company's products and the people who use them. It DOES bother me to know that a product or tool I've helped design may have contributed to causing harm to a person or other entity no matter how good my intentions were or how much money I stood to make with this new bigger better must-have web service.

Sometimes people look at me like I've got lobsters coming out of my ears and they seek to remind me that it's really choosing the lesser of two evils in most situations. I am often reminded that we live in a free market economy and that capitalism remains. If I don't like it I should just get out of the business.

I'm also reminded that you can create a great product but there will always be someone perverting it. True. But when I look at how greatly the internet has changed the face of society and social interactions, I find it kind of hard to NOT feel partly responsible for aiding some of the negative effects it's had as well.

Maybe I just choose to take responsibility for myself in this case.

Anyway, last night I posted a question on LinkedIn to the broader community and asked the following:

"Should sites like LinkedIn be used by recruiters to poach employees from the same company or teams? Let me be a bit controversial if not offensive by asking if it is proper business etiquette for recruiters to use sites like LinkedIn in this way. I've noticed recruiters requesting to be linked to me if only to get access to my contacts. I find it even more appalling that they try poaching people from the same company if not the same teams. Are they not aware that we generally all know each other and that at some point word will spread that the same recruiter is offering the same position to 4 or 5 different people on the same team? This behaviour turns me off of sites like this."

The response both publicy posted on the site and sent to me privately were all mostly defensive. Apparently my question ruffled many feathers but people were missing the point. I don't loathe recruiters or have any animosity towards them because through them I've found some of the most satisfying jobs in my career.

However, the wider issue is this. LinkedIn presents a very unique situation where what is happening could very well be considered poor business practices and could turn people off social media sites whether they are at a professional level like LI or more collegiate like Facebook. Just by asking my question, I've received a ton of private responses from people who say it is an underhanded practice to take advantage of the links that initiating a contact affords you.

From an academic standpoint, as I'm trying to understand the nature of use (and abuse) of social media sites, could behaviour like this become an issue? Could trolling a list of "friends" or contacts expose a persons own social or business network hierarchy? And should users of a site be concerned about such things? (Do you see what I'm getting at here with the bigger picture?)

Imagine a similar scenario where a stranger on say Facebook initiates a friend request with you just to get to your network of people for the purpose of say dating? Imagine you are still linked to your ex and they start trolling your friends list for information about who you might be seeing next. How comfortable are you with people being able to see your family structure simply by perusing your network? My questions may seem extreme but it is possible to get a lot of information about someone's social structure in this way.

Yes, privacy features abound and I have the right to make use of them or not. No one is questioning that. In fact I'm glad that those options are there. But the average user may or may not know this and could find themselves in compromising situations down the road. In the case of LinkedIn, which is geared to a more professional base of users, I questioned the tactics of HR recruiters because it was an obvious look at the logic behind a site set up for such people.

Maybe I just feel very protective of the people I am linked to. I also think recruiters potentially play a dangerous game when they try to recruit from the same pool of people in the same organization. If the hiring candidates talk amongst themselves, it is very likely the topic of salary and remuneration will come up and for the hiring company this could be very bad. Interested candidates could force the numbers up because they know what the other candidates are asking for in salary and packages. It also exposes a company's salary hierarchy to the recruiter because if they ask enough team members from the same group what their base is, they will find out.

I'm not saying this doesn't benefit the recruiter or in most cases this isn't info they already know. (They benefit from placing a candidate at a higher salary package because they get a cut much like a "finder's fee".) I just wonder if in the case of social media networking sites for professionals if this is a good practice. Most of the people who responded assumed I didn't want to be contacted concerning job offers when they couldn't be more wrong.

I'm just intent on understanding the motivations, successes and failures behind how and why we build certain products. The phenomenon of social media sites isn't going away any time soon so I hope other designers and developers like myself can address the more subtle differences in motivational behaviours behind their users.

I will keep pushing people's buttons because their emotional responses are incredibly interesting. My question still has 7 more days on Linked In before it is archived. Here's hoping for a lot more dirt.

============================================================
UPDATE:

This has got to be the most telling response I've read thus far.

"But how is that any different than anyone looking through your contacts and conecting to them and then doing business with that person? The entire premise behind this site is 6 degrees of separation and that we can reach out through others to meet new people for business reasons. This is not a social site, it is a business networking site."

Ummm... okay. We know it is a business Networking site, but if LinkedIn is not a social site, then maybe my interpretation is wrong when they use the following descriptives on their homepage. And I quote:

- "LinkedIn: Relationships Matter."

- "LinkedIn brings together your professional network. Stay in touch, Discover job & business opportunities, Get expert business advice."

Are these still not social interactions? We might not be trading family photos and talking about the latest Britney Spears debacle but this is still very much a social environment that they've only limited to discussions of a professional nature. Is it really any different than if someone like MySpace said, okay let's build a MySpace for Platonic Friends Site, a MySpace for Dating site, a MySpace site for Families, a Myspace for business networking, A MySpace for Environmentalists? It's a social networking site that has chosen to seek out it's users on a more granular level it seems.

There's nothing wrong with using this as a business model. I still wonder though.

Exhibition Review: Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today @ NYC MoMA

2008-03-30T08:26:00.004-07:00

I'd been dying to see this exhibit. All I had to hear were the names Ellsworth Kelly and Sol Lewitt for me to hop a plane to New York to catch what I was hoping would be an amazing show.

A trip to New York, Manhattan specifically, would also mean a nice sit with the family and a bit of shopping.

As my usual style, I took in the exhibit early Friday morning by myself, coming into MoMA alongside the crush of school groups and foreign patrons. The neat thing about visiting museums by yourself is the ease of maneuverabiity solo travel provides. Since I was only there to see the Color exhibition, I didn't need to waste time in the lower galleries fighting the crowds. I avoided the slow wait for the elevators and took the escalators to the 6th floor. I basically had the entire exhibit to myself for a few minutes which seems unheard of at MoMA. (Photos were not allowed inside the exhibition but my digital cam is very stealthy and of course I broke the rules.)

I was immediately effected by what I saw. Rooms full of bright swatches of color made me giddy and reel with excitement until I moved in to the pieces for closer inspection. I admit, I'm one of those people who looks for the seams, the lines, the frayed edges, the brush strokes. I get as close as I can to the canvases before the security guards start worrying.

So I did something I rarely do. I compared myself and my own work to those artists I considered my masters. And suddenly I found myself disappointed. While I spend hours and days making every line perfect, every curve just so, and making sure no color bleeds into another or no piece of canvas left only partially done, I saw many works that seemed to do just that and seemed to have been crafted of poorer quality.

I'm not in MoMA, and it'll no doubt be a long time before any work of mine will ever find itself in such an exhibition, but the sense of quality did make me feel something about the show was lacking.

Another issue I had was that the show seemed incomplete. There were pieces that should have been in this show that seemed a no brainer. Where were Sol Lewitt's more daring color band series like those hanging in MoMA out in San Francisco? Where were ANY works by Josef Albers or even Rothko? Those bigger and better influencers on colour were somehow missing so that the show, while enjoyable, seemed lacking to me.

If anything the show was a beautiful reminder of why I do what I do, and why I love it so.

“Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today” continues through May 12 at the Museum of Modern Art; (212) 708-9400 or moma.org.

Wrong wrong wrong!!!!

2008-03-04T11:17:00.002-08:00

This pains me to look at. For anyone with my type of Synaesthesia this causes so many issues. No wonder my parents thought I was learning disabled.

Viewing

2008-01-27T21:25:00.000-08:00

The new colour series "Grant's Window" will be available for viewing for the month at February at:

2735 Broadway (cross street is 27th)
Oakland, CA

Stop in for cocktails between 5-7pm Tues. - Sat.

All works are for sale.

Design Think Challenge

2008-01-26T15:05:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been challenging myself to think like a designer again. I'm not too sure exactly what that means other than turning a more critical eye towards things in my every day life that can be improved.

As a designer, when I approach a problem or interface issue to be solved, I always start from certain knowns. Okay this is failing here. Okay I need to somehow add or layer this in on top of pre-existing functionality... I posed a question to a large group of professionals in my circle of colleagues by asking them, "If you could improve one experience in your every day life, what would it be?" The answers varied according to personal need and I thought what I'd presented was a brilliant approach to improving the overall experience of some aspect of life.

This morning while in my favourite brunch spot with Nate, I made the effort to reverse my design thinking by asking a different question. What if you could standardise one object or aspect of something in every day life, what effect do you think it would have?"

My first thought was something that has bugged me as an international traveller for years. Having to lug around power adaptors for my various devices and interchanging power plugs is the bane of any traveller's existence. If the end of the adaptor that plugged into the device itself were standardised, we'd only need one plug for everything. The AC power portion of the plug could be swapped out based on international wattage and power standards.

Ever in my search to simplify things at a mental level, I posed this theory to both of us. Imagine I standardised all the doors in the world. To enter via a door, it would be only a pull mechanism. To exit, it would only be a push. If no other variation were allowed on the entrance and exit to a place via a door which operated in this manner, what sorts of problems would this present for architects? Look beyond issues of style, and think of things like how spacing and manual function would be hampered by a door that needs to be opened outward. Handle design and accessibility for opening a door by pulling...

Many of us have this ingrained behavioural knowledge that when we approach a door, we pull to open. But if you've ever been in an office or building where the model is reversed or confusing, then it becomes a pain point and ultimately as a task, you fail.

At my old office in Sydney, we had these glass security doors that locked and were accessed by a magnetic tag at the top of the door. To enter, you swiped your id badge and the magnetic lock disengaged. You pull the door to go in. Exiting the office was a problem for many people.

On the opposite side of the door, you'd push a release button to disengage the lock and then you could exit by pushing on the door. However, the problem resulted from the visual cue presented to people trying to leave. The inside of the door had a handle identicle to the one on the outside which was for pulling. People naturally would pull... over and over, continually thinking the unlocking system had failed.

The frustration generated by this failed system and experience might seem minimal, but think about this. Imagine you had a client leaving from a meeting that didn't go so well. Is the last experience you want to provide them when leaving your office one of more frustration and disappointment over something so simple as a door?

The cartoon below is a perfect example of my new approach to design thinking. If we'd only replaced that handle with a large rectangular push panel. No handle would give users enough of a clue to push and not pull.

My brain is still considering all the pros and cons of standardising door mechanisms around the world.

UPDATE: Art Mashup

2008-01-12T12:50:00.000-08:00

Polaroid photography has gained a new following of cult-like status with a new generation of photographers breathing life into a film genre once considered a poor second to traditional fine photography. One such photographer/artist of the medium is Grant Hamilton. I came across Grant's work online when I was doing research into purchasing my own camera on a whim. I was blown away by the compisition of his pieces. Grant shoots using a rather prehistoric SX-70, turning the now unavailable and archaeic film into the most stunning of snapshots that tend to turn ordinary things into extraordinary images by focusing on lines and the separation of colors and textures making for pictures that are truly worth a thousand words.

With the release of Grant's Window, I'm proud to say this mashup of artistic minds has proved incredibly succesful. Please check out more of Grant's work online here http://www.flickr.com/photos/granthamilton/2186867683/ and on his personal website.

Inspiring Homes

2008-01-07T17:00:00.000-08:00

Over the years we've seen interior designers craft entire rooms around objects or specific colour schemes. From chairs to works of art, designers have created spaces that draw you in and show their astounding sense of creativity.

Back in 2005, I was humbled and surprised that a couple found one of my paintings inspiring enough to use as the basis for the centrepiece of their home.

Apartment Therapy New York held their "I've Got Color! Contest". Tod and Corey Marie
of Lansing, Michigan entered the contest with their Mod About Blue Living Room. They had this to say about their inspiration.

"Our room was directly inspired by a painting by Dee Adams. We found her gallery by searching on Google Image Search for "Minimalist Art." We used the painting as a starting point, and went from there."

I sent them a personal note of thanks back then and I am still flattered every time I see the photos of their home as seen here.

The painting they based the room on is seen here:

Recently, we've received another round of inquiries from clients who also want works to either craft rooms around or to make the centrepiece of pre-existing rooms. Colour seems to still be a strong motivator for people and I am am honored my work is an inspiration to so many.

Cheers.

Excitement!

2008-01-03T15:38:00.000-08:00

Maybe it was today's launch of my new collection or the fact that I'll be flying into JFK this weekend that has me all riled up, but it's hard sitting still. Today I launched my latest series of works inspired by the brilliant polaroid photography of Grant Hamilton. Grant and I spoke a few months ago when I poured out my heart to him about how in love with his work I was. I convinced him quickly to let me translate his little polaroids into full-sized paintings and the result has been incredible.

Grant did all the hard work finding the right subject matter and color composition, I just added the small final tweaks. Maybe one day I'll expand the set of 12 but the pieces I choose will of course need to be harmonious with this original set.

I'll touch down in my old homestead of Manhattan to work on a project al next week and it's going to be exciting to be back in the Big Apple. I'll stop in see the folks, some friends, and catch dinner at Les Halles if possible.

Ever upwards, I hope you all have a great New Year and enjoy the new pieces.

Visiting the Not-So-Abstract Past

2008-01-02T20:38:00.000-08:00

I wasnt always an abstract painter or a minimalist for that matter. For anyone who's followed my work over the years, I started out as an illustrator. I illustrated everything from children's books to technical and scientifc journals at Cornell University.

While going through an old portfolio, I came across some old illustrations I'd completed under the guidance of my mentor Bente Starcke King. As I gingerly turned over the sheets of vellum, and peered beneath the soft layers of crepe paper, I had fond memories of listening to Mozart and drawing in Bente's office on the 4th floor of Mann Library at Cornell University. We were also joined by the now well-known and reknowned illusrator Alison Schroeer. I'd arrive, late afternoons, having taken a bus from my house off campus, stopping off to pick up that afternoon's pastries. We drew plants all afternoon, gorgeous sexy plants and botanicals both larger than life and also microscopic views of tiny universes. If we were working with flowers of the season, I'd bring chocolate rum balls or apple danish. While doing more exotic illustrations for plants discovered in the south american rainforest, we'd munch nut bread while gently handling the PhD student's preserved research specimens.

Back in those days, the process was still manual. Pen, ink, quills... no one knew a thing about carpel tunel syndrome and the stippling was murder on the wrists if not gorgeous. I'm missing those days because to me there was something civilised about sitting in a sunny office at a big wooden antique drawing table, giving life to botanicals on paper. Some species I drew hadn't been out of the pressed stacks in years and even breathing on them for too long might have resulted in hastening their decay. I had the opportunity to view rare species that had either passed into extinction long ago or newly discovered plants from deep in the heart of a jungle.

It was good work, sometimes tedious, with a lot of difficulty and staring through microscopes some afternoons. When we used vellum I recall having to wash my hands so often that my fingernails cracked. If the natural oils from your fingers soaked into the vellum it would ruin the piece. You could not rest your hand directly on the surface that you drew on so I kept a clean stack of lint free towels in my drawer. And the idea of an undo button as in a computer application was non-existant.

I would draw bird eggs, spring magnolia buds, and even mushrooms all from charcoal dust applied only with a brush when taking a break from the pen and ink plates.

I think that was how I learned my breathing technique that gave way to my steady hand application when painting freeform lines on canvas.

I looked up Alison today and sent her a note reminding her of the good old days back at school. If anyone wants to see any of my work, a more readily accessible journal has a series of plates I completed. [Taxonomy of Asarum Section Asarum (Aristolochiaceae)" by Lawrence M. Kelly].

Funny how I seemed to leave a very concrete representative world behind in favor of one open to far more interpretation.

Maybe my next career will see me doing something with a return to craft... something hands on that really does require a skill, not just the ability to use a computer. *Wistful sigh*

Bente passed away in 2005 while I was living and working in Australia. One of her more famous watercolours has a story behind it that no one really knows. One afternoon when making my usual pick up of afternoon tea sweets, I spotted a woman selling these large gorgeous sunflowers. Bente had been sick and the weather had been terribly gloomy. Our office wasn't as cheerful as it had been in past days so I bought the largest sunflower of the bunch as a gift to Bente and to brighten her desk. Despite her illness, she was so inspired by the sunflower that overnight she completed the painting and it was truly a masterpiece.

Benete, wherever you are my friend, I miss you and I am ever grateful for the artistic influence you had over my life.

Merry Christmas Yahoo!

2007-12-11T14:08:00.000-08:00

So this year I designed the corporate christmas card for the User Experience Team at Yahoo! The brief was a funny little thing. Since the design team is a global organization, the card had to reflect and of course not offend the cultural sensibilities of all the people it was to be dispersed to. And considering that Yahoo! has employees in over 30 countries, it was a challenging task.

Here's a sample of the final design:

2008 Series

2007-10-29T09:22:00.000-07:00

I owe a huge thank you to my partner Nathan for inspiring the latest series to come out of the studio. I think it's my best work yet and you'll be able to see my first real use of a blue palette. For years the color blue has eluded me but something in my life has changed and now it doesn't present such a block to me. January 1 will see the release of "Colour Windows". Thank you for being my inspiration Nate.

Cutting Studio Costs: Quick Comparison Shopping Guide

2007-10-25T13:53:00.000-07:00

In an effort to improve the efficiency of my studio, I've started looking at ways of cutting costs and also moving towards a greener production environment. While I'm still researching many more ways to green up the digs, I came across some startig ways in which to reduce the cost of my materials, which as we all know can be incredibly expensive for artists of all types.

I decided to take a lok at how I purchase my materials. The where and the how mainly. I did this little study about 2 days ago and I want to pass along my findings to everyone. For the sake of my little experiment, I focused on one of my suppliers which is Dick Blick Art Materials.

Dick Blick has 3 ways in which you can purchase art supplies from them. 1: Their retail shops. (I'm lucky enough to live in an area where there are many of their shops.) 2: Their catalog. 3: Their website online.

In an attempt to compare what would give me the better price, I placed an order for 8 24 x 24 inch gallery style canvases for an upcoming project. It was a size I knew to regularly be in stock in both the store and online and likely in their warehouse. I also noted that if purchasing online or through the catalogue, there was a price break for 5+ items. Dick Blick also seemed to be reminding me at every turn that they offered art supplies cheaper than the list price. I wasn't sure how they definied what the list price was or where this data came from but it is now a familiar feature on art supply websites to show customers just how much supposed value they're getting for their money. (See also Pearl Art Supplies, another one of my regular shops.)

Also note, I excluded Pearl from my experiment because they didn't stock the size canvas I needed which immediately disqualified them from doing a comparative analysis.

Here's how things broke down.

==============================================
Individual price for a 24" x 24" pre-stretched canvas:

Catalog (by phone or online): $10.25

Online: $11.38

Store: $22.29 reg. with 10% Preferred custom discount $20.06

==============================================
Here's how the costs add up...

Online using Catalog code or from catalog by phone: 8@10.25 = 82.00 (+ tax 7.18 & 11.95 shipping) = $101.13

Online without using catalog code 8@11.38 = 91.04 (+ tax 7.97 & shipping 11.95) = $110.96

Store: 8@20.06 = $160.48 (+ tax 14.04) = $174.52

(**sales tax is 8.75% here in CA)

==============================================
Conclusion:

The best way to save money is to purchase online using my most recent catalog code. At first I had no idea this was an option and many people seem to not know this fact. Using the code on the back of my cataloge near my name and address, I was able to further reduce the price per each item. With this particular purchase it saved me $73.39 and will be delivered to my studio in 5 - 7 days. Travelling to the store itself might save me a little time, but I'm also taking a gamble that what I need will be in store, and also with the cost of gas these days, I'm still paying more. It's just not worth it.

Moral of the story is, if using a big national supplier like Dick Blick, research the ways you might buy your materials. Purchasing online seems to save you the most money if you're alright waiting the 5-7 business days for shipping. I usually do stock audits for materials every 2 months so there's no rush to get items. Be aware however, even online shopping can hurt your wallet! When buying large items such as canvases above a certain size or studio equipment, shipping costs can go up sharply. Often times items marked "oversized" online can end up costing you in the hundreds of dollars for shipping alone. Companies regularly add on insurance costs for large items and also hidden fees for loading or unloading goods. Pearl Art is notorious for adding in an extra fee in the event the driver needs to lift your item down from the truck bed or not. And to make matters worse these fees are not built into the online shipping calculator. You usually have to wait to have the store email you back or call you with the final quote. Very time consuming and expensive.

Another benefit to shopping online is the ability to reuse any packing materials. Not only is this better for the environment, it cuts my costs for purchasing shipping materials and waste disposal. A few extra seconds opening a box carefully or using bins to hold packing bubbles or bubble wrap can means more money saved later.

I hope you all found this useful.

Misfits of Modernism II

2007-09-28T19:32:00.000-07:00

For those of you who know me, you also know that my love of modernism encases a serious appreciation for modernist architecture. Back in 2005 I joined the cause to help protect one of Richard Neutra's buildings in Gettysburg known as the Cyclorama Center. Misfits of Modernism Architectural Reception and Benefit was hosted with the help of famous interior design retailer Design Within Reach. deedee9:14 donated two original pieces to the auction.

This year, we are back and presenting Misfits of Modernism II. This event, hosted by the Recent Past Preservation Network and Design Within Reach, will showcase the brilliant, but largely unrecognized, works of historic modern architecture and landscape design in Philadelphia and its surrounds. The event will focus on the immediate threat surrounding Richard Neutra’s Gettysburg Cyclorama Center The 1961 Cyclorama Center, a modernist Cold War-era homage to Abraham Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address, is slated for demolition by the federal government as part of a landscape redevelopment. The event will also highlight additional endangered works around Philadelphia with presentations by local preservation advocates.

Bid on my latest piece entitled "Dull Wit" to help fund a worthy cause.

Suggested donation of $15, $10 for members of RPPN at the door—Proceeds to benefit the campaign to save Richard Neutra’s 1961 Cyclorama Center at Gettysburg. 6:30 – 9:00 p.m., RSVP’s requested at philadelphia@dwr.com or 215-735-3195.
http://www.recentpast.org; http://www.dwr.com

A Love Letter

2007-09-24T22:52:00.001-07:00

This is the love letter I cannot erase, I cannot take back, I cannot hide from. It is firmly written on canvas and will outlast any paper I've got. I cannot take back what was written. It was a moment of courage and I swear by the words written here. This piece will live on in my bedroom only.

My Kid Could Paint That

2007-09-23T10:40:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how many times I've heard these words uttered by people under their breath at an opening night exhibition, or as I came across other artists even who just didn't understand my artwork. Many abstract artists in fact have had their works, their talent, their motives, and the cost of their pieces questioned and debated under the same idea that "my kid [also substitue with chimp or elephant] could paint that." Modern abstract art is seen as a con game of sorts which is only supported when someone like child or animal artists can produce work of similar style and quality as professional adult artists and also command exorbitant prices for the work.

Today, the question surrounding exactly what is modern art is being raised in a briliant documentary by director Amir Bar-Lev. The film "My Kid Could Paint That" looks at the controversy surrounding child-prodigy Marla Olmstead who at age four became a global phenomenon because of her amazing abstract paintings. [TRAILER: http://www.sonyclassics.com/mykidcouldpaintthat/]

Marla as a toddler was selling work for amounts of money that long standing adult career abstract artists couldn't and never would command. The story looks at many different aspects from the fickle art world and how it values art, to the ideas of what constitute modern art in and of itself. The big questions raised seem to be, how can abstract art command such rediculous prices whether it was painted by 4 or 40 year old?

I would have been interested in knowing myself what other seasoned artists felt after viewing the documenatary. We've seen before that every few years a child is suddenly held up as a prodigy in the art world compared to the likes of Picasso or Pollock. But by the time the same child reaches age 13, we don't hear of them or their work anymore.

In the case of Marla, I think she's a gorgeous little girl who is lucky to have parents who support her level of creativity. But at the same time, her work is only commanding such prices because she is a child. Marla is not developed enough to speak to her art or tell the story behind it in the same way an adult artist could. She is unable to explain technique, form, or content. In essence, one might say if she is producing the work herself, then she's producing it from a wholly emotional or inspiratonal place that leaves things like technique, style, and logical thought out of the process.

We will all wonder if she truly enjoys her painting or if she does so because she sees the positive response it generates in her parents. Children like to please so many motives might be challenged.

The film is set for limited release in Los Angeles and New York Oct 5. I encourage everyone to see it and weigh in with their own opinions on the subject.

Black & White

2007-08-16T23:07:00.000-07:00

Seems I'm still in my black and white zone and it feels comfortable here. I've never been happier to have a brush in my hand. Everything feels so good right now with all this. Maybe I needed a break from all the colour to get at something even simpler... arguments aside of course about black and white being colours or colourless. Something very elegant and graceful is happening here.

On a side note, Bliss is keeping me company on constant rotation in the studio. What amazing music.

Work Overload

2007-08-10T20:41:00.000-07:00

Let's play a quick catch up shall we? The move from Sydney was exhausting. The hardest part was having to do away with many art supplies the shipping company would not allow me to actually pack and send. There regulations against flammable materials, paints etc. being placed on large shipping vessels so for a while I was panicking about what to do. I had a lot of expensive gear and throwing away a $40 jar of Matisse 4 star paint was not an option. Thankfully, a budding painter and designer friend of mine was willing to accept my studio leftovers as his own startup kit. We packed his entire car and trunk full. I think I shed a tear when he pulled away from the curb. However, my light table, projectors, paints, and bits and bos were going to a new home where they'd be well cared for. Pity as a global nation we haven't fond a way to make electronic goods all one standard voltage so that they worked in any country.

After all the worrying, stress, and illness associated with getting not only my art but my life organised, I am finally able to get back to doing what I love best back home here in SF. I owe a huge thanks to my dealer and agent because while all of this madness was going on, we closed two licensing deals that now mean my designs have worldwide use and coverage. Exciting. I've suddenly gone mainstream.

Artistically I'm still in my new black and white phase and the clients are lining up. I already have a back log of work to get started on and it's proving challenging with my studio space still being figured out and organized.

As always, ever upwards. Thank you to all my old friends and clients in Australia and South East Asia. I am honored that you've chosen to hang my work in your homes and offices.

A Moment of Clarity

2007-05-13T05:46:00.000-07:00

Here's one I hope you can use. Maybe it offers some explanation about the way I choose to live my life. My motto has been: Regret nothing. At one time, it was EXACTLY what you wanted.
Enough said. Life is good and creative.

Updates from the Studio

2007-05-04T07:05:00.000-07:00

Sitting here looking at the toys in my office and I realise I'm procrastinating. An awful lot going on these days. All of it good. For those who haven't heard, the entire business is moving back to San Francisco. It'll be great being back home in the US. The last 5 years in Sydney Australia have been fantastic and I've been able to do a lot of travelling but it's time to get back to my family and to all the new opportunities there.

Don't be surprised if you start seeing more of my work around in new places. I'll be shutting down the studio and taking time off for some new personal pursuits in the coming months. A girl has to live and love right? Let's see what comes out of all of this. :)

Enough.

2007-04-29T04:26:00.000-07:00

So this is the part where people really think I'm crazy. Hopefully the fact that I'm documenting this and speaking about it so freely will one day give people a slightly different impression. It is madness, but it has vision and method to it.

There's this canvas, this one canvas that has been sitting in my studio, taking up space in a corner, on the floor, against a wall. This canvas has been draining me. It's not a very big canvas, it only measures a perfect 20 x 20 inches. A perfect square, and it bothers me. It's kept me up at night. It's fought with me over the right colours, the right shapes, and it has refused to yield. I can't make this one be what I need it to. It isn't cooperating like the rest. It won't allow me to use my rigid sense of line. It won't allow me to seduce it with a curve or appeal to its vanity with a bright splash of colour. So instead I have finally yielded to it.

Years from now, if this work ever loses touch with the hands of a private owner, it may end up in a collection somewhere. It might end up instead in the hands of a curator or a restorer. It might be photographed, tested, archived, scanned and even x-rayed. And to the person who took the time to look beneath the surface, they'll find a battle waiting for them... my battle. Underneath what is now flat, lays the battle field of the first canvas I've ever lost a fight against. The x-ray will no doubt show multiple layers of colours, circles that didn't quite overlap, shapes that didn't join quite right or lay where I wanted them to. All of this will no doubt come out of the x-ray.

What won't come out was my voice behind it. This canvas didn't want to follow suit and continue on in the fine tradition of my Organic Series pieces. The shapes ran off one edge as if they were trying to escape. The colours bickered. The red too orange, the orange too pale, the white completely misplaced. I mixed and remixed. I waited and reapplied. The usual tricks of leaving it alone for awhile didn't work. Turning it upside down didn't work. Looking at it in different lighting didn't work. Nothing worked. So eventually I gave up.

Now normally, giving up means the canvas collects a few layers of dust, then one day it goes into the fire. Or I shred it with my hands. This one decided for itself that it was going to live and no amount of dust or cobwebs or abuse by sunlight was going to change that. Three weeks ago I gave in. If it wanted to live then I was going to do as it asked. I went to work sanding and gessoing. I tried to cover the blemishes, my mistake, my errors in judgement. The canvas
started behaving again. It gave up its silence and it started talking to me again.

It was going to be something different and unlike anything I'd done before. Very carefully, I started to apply a colour. One colour. One colour because that was all it wanted to be. All debates about colour aside, when you look at the final piece you'll say to yourself, "but Dee that's not finished." And I will argue to my last breath that indeed it is finished. FINALLY.

This is my piece entitled the unfinished canvas. To the casual eye it will look unfinished, completely unlike me. It won't have the perfectly flat surface or the lines and shapes so articulately done that you'll wonder how steady my hand had to be to do this. No... you will see brush strokes, unfinished looking and a bit mishapen. But trust me, this canvas is finished. If it could breathe a word it would be this one. "Enough." So I listened.

This canvas wasn't ever meant to be finished, that's why it was laboured over for so many months. It knew it wasn't meant to be like the rest. No bright colours, no perfect lines or subtle organic shapes. It is what it was meant to be. But look closer, there's still a lot of me in this. There's still that sense of controlled paint and brush, or anal retentiveness, that old obsessive compulsive thing rearing its ugly head. The canvas is finished. The black stretching only just as far as it needs to, off and over three sides, but not fully four. Look for the first time at the back of the canvas and notice something. It too has been painted to the edge of the canvas.

So tonight I finally feel like it'll let me sleep. Here it is... my latest finished work, "The Unfinished Canvas".

Word of Warning to Other Artists

2007-03-19T15:41:00.000-07:00

A day ago it was brought to my attention that the agency hired to maintain my site was up to some fairly illegal and shady practices. Without naming names, and once the settlements have been agreed upon, I'd like to use this opportunity to warn other artists about how important it is to look after your own business affairs and always look over everything being done in your name.

It has taken me a long time to build up my skills as both an artist and a member of the design community. On far too many occaisions I've had my own work stolen, seen the work of others stolen, and been involved in legal matters to the same effect. Eventually the work I produced allowed me take a step back and I decided to hire on people I thought I could trust to look after areas of my burgeoning business while I focused on the one that truly mattered, the painting.

I hired a very new and very skilled web content firm who were specifically working with artists worldwide providing them with content management for their websites, inventory, and archiving of all their works in digital format. The same company even offers services such as a giclee printing and artist marketing since in essence they'd be holding all the image collateral anyway.

Much to my own disappointment, I discovered that work supposedly photographed in "client locations" were images that had been stolen and "photoshopped." I shoulder the blame for not looking after my website myself these last 2 years and trusting the work of this company too easily. But this is a professional industry and business needs to be conducted as such. I have since had my legal team dismiss the agency and review all the work that was ever posted on my website. All of the digital materials regarding my work have been seized and reclaimed by myself. As part of the agreement, I have also requested that any company or service that feels duped by this agency also get paid restitutions. I cannot abide by such business practices and have demanded a public written apology sent to all my clients and contacts as well.

My name has been tainted and overnight people I thought I could trust professionally have ruined years of hard work and credibility.

To other artists, be careful who you do business with and be aware at all times who manages your work. For detailed information on the agency who brought about this issue, please send an email request to the contact address on the website. They do not deserve my business or that of my colleagues.

Inspiration: The motion of glass

2006-12-28T01:55:00.000-08:00

The fluid almost liquid like appearance of glass has captured my imagination and provided inspiration for years. Glass artists are able to capture colours I can only dream of and bring them to life with a luminosity most painters can only lust for. Here is an example of the glasswork by artist John Pomp. John's work has inspired everything from some of my more famous colour palettes to the organic shapes in some of my compositions. The image below is from his collection of vases called "Bullseye".

If you look at my series entitled "Organics" you'll see the correlation.

New Gallery Opening & Exhibition of works by Dee Adams

2006-12-02T21:27:00.000-08:00

You are invited to the opening of Greenstone Gallery. Greenstone is a gorgeous new modern gallery opening up in one of the sexiest beach-side locations in NSW. The opening is a new venture being run by Maryanne Priest featuring not only a gorgeous exhibition space but an incredible stale of contemprary artists including yours truly.

Where: Beachfront, Fiddaman road, Emerald Beach NSW Australia

When: Friday, December 8, 2006 6:30 - 9:00pm

RSVP: maryanne@greenstonegallery.com.au

Drinks and canapes will be served for the duration of the opening. Enjoy.