Dr. Sam Lam Art

Rugby Painting by Dr. Sam Lam

This acrylic piece reminiscent of a rugby shirt hangs in the hallway just adjacent to my salon’s entrance.  The canvas size was custom-made for me by Stretch and Frame in Dallas, Texas.  I would highly recommend them to any artist who does not want to stretch his/her own frames, as they are all acid-free, double primed, gallery-wrapped, thick wood frame, hand stretched, and nylon mixed (to keep the stretch), and as stated can be custom designed for you.  You can also specify how you want the gallery wrapping so that depending on how you hang the canvas, the wrap will not be folded over on the sides but on the top and bottom of the canvas to be more invisible.  The gallery wrapping is so beautiful, most of my pieces hang naked without a frame.

I always love the combination of blue and orange.  That just works well.  The use of dark Prussian blue and grays help to anchor this piece and serve as “neutral” elements.  Line width and basic design work were constructed on Adobe Illustrator before committing brush to canvas.  Hope you enjoy!

Rugby Painting by Dr. Sam Lam

Airbrush Paint on Absorbent Ground Painting by Dr. Sam Lam

This painting hangs upstairs on the way to the Solberg Center.  It was created by thinning down airbrush paint with water and painting a thin coating of this mixture onto absorbent ground to create the watercolor on canvas feel.  I experimented until I was able to create this unique effect.  I then painted a thick, painterly acrylic square that matched tone on tone for each canvas in this tetraptych.

Optimism Painting by Dr. Sam Lam

This painting is situated downstairs in the separate lobby entrance.  It is entitled “Optimism”, as the four bright colors extend outward in four directions may suggest.  The use of grays to act as an inner frame has been matched to each specific color for optimal and optical effect.

Ok, that is not the name for it but I don’t really have a name for this one.  It is however one of my favorite pieces, and it is inspired by the work of Twombly in which he creates chalkboard-like paintings.  I used a swirly charcoal gray acrylic as the background with a yellow border on the sides of the canvas. I then used oil pastels to create the chalky lines and the yellow and silver splotches.  Again, the presence of painterly handfeel and the rigidity of the geometric pattern is a repeated hallmark in my work.  I just love that combination!  I think I am going to steal this one for my condo!  Right now it is sitting upstairs in a vacant office.  Ouch!

Sol I and II Paintings by Dr. Sam Lam

As discussed in my inspiration section, Sol Lewitt as an artist has had a profound influence in my work, perhaps more than any other single artist.  These paintings were done by using thinned down watercolor pieces for Sol II and regular acrylic paint for Sol I.  They hang in the women and men’s bathrooms upstairs, respectively.

This painting was designed by digitally projecting the image onto the canvas and then using a free hand to draw the radial spokes.  That combination affords both the painterly touch that makes it appear handmade but the rigidity of a pattern that unifies the four pieces and creates a more uniform visual appeal.  This tetraptych is situated along the hallway of the first floor between my spa and salon.  My art fans will recognize the presence of tone on tone colors that I love to use!

This painting was designed with the focal point being the lush pearl waves that punctuate the canvas.  They were made by mixing pearl acrylic paint, gel gloss to add further sheen, and molding gel to add heft and three-dimensionality.  This site-specific work was designed to be in the salon’s entrance where the viewer would be looking at it on edge with the sun coming through a window from the other side, making the light interplay across the work more dramatic and also unique for different times of the day, different weather conditions, and different seasons.

Ok, the title of this painting also is stolen from a movie title.  This one may be a bit more obscure.  It is a 1966 black-and-white and risqué Jean-Luc Goddard film that typifies the French new wave style.  Hey, come on I was a modern European history major with a focus on French and British history, and my salon is primarily French!  As you can see, the colors I chose for the one on the left is more masculine (my interpretation of masculine) and the one on the right is more feminine (again my artistic rendition of this thought).  You will find this painting in my salon to the left of the reception desk.

Yes, I stole the name from the 1960 care-free Fellini film by the same name.  This fun painting of tone on tone flowers stands upstairs in front of Dr. Ku’s office.  This is a lively piece that is not very serious but fun and playful, as I am!  Look vertically up and down if you want to see the family of colors I used.

Charcoal Line Drawing by Dr. Samuel Lam

This is one of my favorite pieces of art.  It currently hangs in the reception area of AVC upstairs.  It is a charcoal piece on cold-pressed watercolor paper that expresses a sinuous line that is both graphically clean but not smudge-free.  I love the hint of painterliness that invades the sense of order.  I love that juxtaposition!  It is at once organic and representational as well as abstract.

Charcoal Drawing