Dr. Sam Lam Art

Alban Painting by Dr. Sam Lam

This painting is very bright and works well for my salon in which it hangs.  It is named after my wonderful artistic director, Alban.  The top two outer squares are bright red and the bottom outer squares are pyrrole orange if you cannot tell.  The middle upper and lower center squares are pearl paint mixed with gel gloss, which Alban suggested because I was confronting a dilemma of how to make that square interesting with some kind of shiny paint.  He liked my use of pearl for another salon painting, and it was the perfect suggestion.  The outer upper center squares are stainless steel and the lower outer center squares are silver.  I like how these metals create a neutral contrast to the bright primary colors.

Alban Painting by Dr. Samuel Lam

Egg Watercolor Paintings by Dr. Sam Lam

As I started to do work for my spa, I moved from a strong geometric design for my office and bold colors for my salon to more of a muted, pastel quality that would evoke a feminine yin energy.  I created almost every piece for the spa using cold-pressed watercolor paper.  This series is one of my favorite and hang in the clinical skin care side of the spa.  They hang in different rooms and each one conveys a different energy and spirit.

Again, you can see a lot of tone on tone work to keep my palette clean.  Watercolor is such a versatile medium to convey different emotions.  The center yolk part of the egg is created with a dense application of unwatered watercolor paint after I first laid down a watered down version for the white of the egg.  This work was inspired actually by seeing a splotch of watercolor on a national spa magazine ad.  I can’t remember which ad it was.  You can see how there is a wonderful combination of geometric rigidity and painterly freedom that is very characteristic of my overall style.  I really hope you visit my spa and see these pieces for yourself because I cannot convey their beauty with mere photographs.  (Sorry, I realize I forgot to photograph my purple one.  Well, I guess you just have to come to see it in person!)

Orange Egg Watercolor Painting by Dr. Sam Lam

Aqua Egg Watercolor Painting by Dr. Sam Lam

Green Egg Watercolor Painting by Dr. Sam Lam

Airbrush Paintings by Dr. Sam Lam

I had a tremendous amount of fun doing these two sets of paired paintings.  Both sets are named “Agnes” and are named after Agnes Martin, an artist who has had tremendous influence in my thinking and aesthetic design work.  You can read about her and watch her video in the Inspiration section of this website.  Agnes I hangs in the men’s bathroom and is completely composed of airbrush work where the background comes alive.  It is a softer looking piece than Agnes II, which hangs in the female bathroom.  Agnes II has a solid background painted with acrylic then overlayed with airbrush work.  The airbrushing comes alive because of the tension created with the background color, where in real life when you look at them, there is almost a bouncing quality at the intersection of the line and the background.

Agnes I Painting by Dr. Sam Lam

Agnes II Painting by Dr. Sam Lam

This painting is part of a paired painting set that hangs in my second, larger consultation room.  I like the fabric-like feel of the blue gesso background and the almost stuck-on look of the magenta and stainless steel paint.  Somehow the color combination really works, at least for me it does.

Peripheral Vision Painting by Dr. Sam Lam

I was thinking of other things I have designed, and I immediately turned to my designs for my books (in collaboration with my sister Vina).  I remember seeing the first cover design for my first book, Comprehensive Facial Rejuvenation, that Lippincott gave back to me and I almost vomited.  The colors were purple, green, and yellow.  It looked like a children’s coloring book.  I immediately turned the project over to my sister, who has excellent taste and who works as a graphic designer and web designer.  She worked with my idea of wanting a Brancusi sculpture, “Sleeping Muse”, which she then picked a beautiful brown gray color to complement it and finished the font, etc., to make it work.

For my Asian book, I had no ability to design the cover since the publisher has a standardized cover design. However, I spent hours combing through stock images until I found the perfect Asian model to adorn the cover.  For my fat transfer book, I picked the model from a local photographer whom I hired to do the project.  Then I designed the overlays using Illustrator over her face.  My sister then did an amazing job creating the color scheme to match her eyes and also the font work with the word “fat” thicker than the other title text.  Brilliant!

Exterior & Interior Signage Designed by Dr. Sam Lam

I did all the interior and exterior signage for my building.  To me signage is very important as an indicator of taste and aesthetics.  I simply did not want to hire out that task.  It was also a pleasure for me to design the font, layout, and other specifications that I thought expressed the spirit of my building.

I designed all the interior signs for my office (that are also AAAHC/JCAHO compliant).

Common Area Bathroom Signage (with Braille) Designed by Dr. Sam Lam

Spa Sign Floating on Wall

Lobby Waterfall Sign & Logo Designed by Dr. Sam Lam

Interior Building Directory Designed by Dr. Sam Lam

Frosted Glass Entry to LFP Designed by Dr. Sam Lam

Spa Menu Listing Designed by Dr. Sam Lam

AVC Sign

Exterior Building Signage Designed by Dr. Sam Lam

Exterior Building Directory Designed by Dr. Sam Lam

Exterior Building WBW Front Signage Designed by Dr. Sam Lam

Spa and Salon Sign Designed by Dr. Sam Lam

Brochures, Folders, Gift Cards, Envelopes Designed by Dr. Sam LamBrochures, Folder, Envelopes Designed by Dr. Sam Lam

I have literally designed every piece of stationery or related stationery for my office.  I do not micromanage my office except when it comes to aesthetic work.  As you see, I really like even tone on tone work for my folders, brochures, etc.  The embossed logo is for me a subtler means of expression than writing the name of my company on the front.  The bronze on brown is a tone on tone stamp on the front of my folder.  For my brochure, I used a very heavy cardboard-like stock and created multiple insert leaflets that express subtle color in metallics.  For the envelope, I used the same bronze color that appears on my business cards.  For my gift cards, I used very heavy cardstock with inverted bronze ink for each sides displaying my logos on each side.  I have recently changed my website and now am thinking about moving toward a silver/dark blue-green combo but that is a major overhaul that I am not ready to commit to yet.  I have too many folders left!  Also, sorry, I ran out of stationery so no image of my letterhead except my envelope to show here.

Front of LFP Brochure

LFP Brochure Opened To the First Inside Section

LFP Brochure Opened To The Second Inside Section

Detail of LFP Brochure's Insets, Partly Removed

Detail of LFP Brochure's Insets, Partly Removed & Turned

Gift Cards Front Designed by Dr. Sam Lam

Gift Cards Inside Designed by Dr. Sam Lam

Large Envelope (Detail), Designed by Dr. Sam Lam

Folder, Front Embossed Detail 1 Designed by Dr. Sam Lam

Folder, Front Detail 2 (Metallic Lettering) Designed by Dr. Sam Lam

I designed my business cards in fact many of the business cards for the other businesses in my building too (as shown) along with their logos.  I chose a very very heavy cardstock of 30 pounds or more to create a strong textural feel and heft when picking up my card.  I chose a matte white background and my favorite sans serif fonts.  I placed on one side my name in bold black with my board certifications and fellowship status in metallic bronze.  The contact information is on the other side with the logo in bronze, and text in black.  I like this splitting of the business card into two sides.  It allows me plenty of room for my contact information while making the front side of the card much cleaner.  As you may know, I love using metals in many of my paintings.  I have done so for my business cards because they create an understated elegance and a dash of color without being obtrusive or gaudy.

Toward the tail end of my experimenting with tons of watercolor paper (pencils, watercolor, pens, etc.), I started to really love linoleum prints.  I worked on this 2 wave and 3 wave pairing, creating 10 prints in total and giving away one for a charity event (I think the only piece of art I have ever parted with, as I could make more.)  I love the straight lines and the painterly feel of the paint.  The colors are vibrant and well paired.  The magenta pink with the silver on one wall, and on the accompanying wall the purple blue with the gold.  These prints hang in my front bathroom near my reception area.  I also have a different pairing upstairs in the anti-aging center’s blood draw room.

Again, a paired painting that represents an earlier piece of artwork in my evolution as an artist that hangs in my third clinical treatment room.  I named the painting after the Latin goddess Flora for flower, as they appear to have the appearance of flowers.  I really love this piece because I love the colors.  I also enjoyed mixing the white into the colors so as to attain the tone on tone progression of colors.  Again, you can see the inversion of colors from dark to light going inward in one “flower” and the reverse scheme on the other, a favorite visual device of mine.