Interview: Dee Adams

Name: Dee Adams
Occupation: Fine Artist, Graphic Designer, Illustrator, Photographer
Location: San Francisco, CA

1. What kind of art do you make?
I'm a bit manic as I have my hands busy with a lot of creative projects at once. By day I am a Design Specialist for Yahoo! which involves a lot of graphic design and information architecture of user interfaces. In my own studio, I split time between my large painted works on canvas, photography and independent graphic design projects that I create under my company deedee9:14. I sell the paintings via my art dealer, in various galleries as well as on my own site www.deedee914.com. Recently I've started selling smaller pieces and more of my graphic design work on my Etsy shop. It's funny because people either know me as Dee the web designer or Dee the artist but rarely do they associate the two. The art I make for myself is the most important and the most emotional. It all stems from my love of mid-century modernism, my parents influence of style, and my love of simplicity.



2. What do you enjoy most about working in this medium?
When you work for a design agency or a large company, you're always making trade-offs. The work is never fully yours. You cater to whoever is paying you at the end of the day. When I paint, or when I create a unique design in my own studio, I have control over the entire outcome. I don't have to compromise and cater to a specific audience. I create the work I want to see. I'm very lucky in that other people find joy in my work and choose to hang it in their homes or offices all over the world.



3. What challenges have you found in your work?
The most difficult challenge is in trying to explain abstract minimalism to someone unfamiliar with the concept and why I'm so adamant about "less being more". Many people simply see blocks of colour or a line and a dot like Mondrian and think "Anyone can do that!". But what they don't understand is the process it took to reduce a complex image or idea down to something so simple.



4. Where do you find inspiration?
Old art journals, gallery exhibitions, and any sort of homewares, interior, or antique shops that carry modern or mid-century works. I'm a sucker for home stores and mags. I also collect books that focus on decorating ideas for homes from that era as there are always gems inside. Flickr is also a great source of inspiration as people show off what they're doing in their own homes. With my most recent project of mid-century style illustrated birds, I was definitely inspired by sculptures produced by the Italian company Flavia.



5. What are your favorite artists, designer or blogs.
My favourite artists are Sol Lewitt, Josef Albers, Bridget Riley, Mark Rothko, and Gustav Klimt. I'm addicted to design blogs and there are too many to mention. You can expect that all of the big names are on there as well as the small independent ones that cater to modern design, architecture, and mid-century style.