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Arts / Galleries

Los Angeles Artist’s Feel-Good Exhibit Finds a Home in the Dallas Design District

The Love Fest Continues with Amber Goldhammer's Vibrant, Street Art Style at Christopher Martin Gallery

BY // 02.17.20

Through her vibrant, graffiti-style paintings splashed with hearts and messages of love, Los-Angeles based artist Amber Goldhammer has become known for spreading positivity and joy with a hefty dash of street cred and West Coast-cool. Goldhammer was in Dallas this week to celebrate the opening of her first ever solo exhibition, I Love You, which is on display now through March 15 at Christopher Martin Gallery in the Dallas Design District.

We caught up with the artist, who, with beachy red waves, heart-shaped hoop earrings, and a contagious smile, is a living embodiment of her can’t-help-but-make-you-feel-good work.

L.A. to Dallas.
My work is predominantly shown on the West Coast, but I do have a gallery in Switzerland and have done shows in New York, Miami, and all over the place. Katie and Antonio with Christopher Martin Gallery found my art and contacted me and said I’d be a perfect fit for Dallas. They sold half the show on the first night so they were spot on!

The opening of your first solo exhibition.
Oh my gosh, I wanted to cry every five minutes. I thought it was fantastic. Everything was just flawless and perfect and so many people came.

Finding your style.
I’ve painted my whole life but have really been in the art world seriously for about ten years, and I’ve been doing the graffiti that I’m doing now for about five years. I’ve always been an abstract artist and would do abstract figurative work but I had this affinity for graffiti and street art. When I started playing around with it and what kind of style I wanted to come up with, ‘I love you’ felt like the perfect message that the world needed. Everyone felt really happy to see it — that was the message I kept getting. It just took off.

“Bright Love” by Amber Goldhammer
“Bright Love” by Amber Goldhammer

Love is the word.
I’m totally riding this ‘I love you’ wave and it feels so good. I’m just happy to make other people happy. Making another person feel happy is subjective. I definitely want people to look at my art and feel self-love or think about somebody that makes them happy or somebody that they love. It just puts a smile on their face, and that’s the goal right there. I could keep painting ‘I love you’ for my whole life if it will keep making that happen.

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Your works have been featured in film and television including on shows like Scandal, G.L.O.W., and The Catch.
There are way more shows that my art has been on than I even know about! Sometimes it happens so quickly. I’ll receive a check and found out a year later what show it was on.

Because I’m L.A.-based and right in the center of Hollywood, different galleries and consultants I work with have relationships with studios and movie sets and staging companies. They’ll show set designers artworks for the shows they’re working with and they pick my art to be featured on the shows.mSome will buy the art but mostly they will rent it for the show and it will stay in the production house for an extended period of time and then go back to me or the gallery that placed it there.

“Tranquil Love Waves” by Amber Goldhammer
“Tranquil Love Waves” by Amber Goldhammer

Inspiration on the beach.
I live at the beach and my studio is a mile away. I’m very inspired by the ocean, and the people I see out there riding their bikes and enjoying life.

But life isn’t always rainbows and unicorns. There is also tragedy. Bad things happen. I myself have had lots of things in my life, and I’ve based my art around the ebb and flow of the life experiences people have. It’s all about turning around and making something positive out of it. It’s hard for everybody. Everyone has their own challenges and demons they’re working on and things that happen in relationships. I take all of that in and put it into my art too.

You mentioned at the show that your favorite piece to work on was Fall In Love In The City, which was one of the only pieces in black and white.
It was my favorite piece because it has such a stark contrast. It’s black and white, not pastels or colors that blend really well together. It’s a harsh contrast but there’s so much grey area in black and white, and I feel like that’s really how life is. I feel like it’s really capturing people and cities and everything people are going through, and putting it in an art form. People can relate to it because it’s got depth and soul and people feel a connection to it. That one got the most attention and most people said it was their favorite that night too!

“Texas Love” by Amber Goldhammer
“Texas Love” by Amber Goldhammer

Your first time in Texas.
The Christopher Martin Gallery team took me out to Fort Worth for the rodeo—it was honestly the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. But above all, what’s struck me the most is that everyone I’ve met is so inviting and nice. We were watching some music and there was a group of women who were so friendly and just laughing and having a good time. That doesn’t happen in L.A. People usually stick with their own clique. It feels more like a community here and I’ve felt it everywhere I’ve been.

Up next.
I have an art fair in Palm Springs so I’ll be featured in that. I’ll be featured in an art fair in New York in March, and then just continuing relationships with galleries. I’m going to be in Switzerland this summer spending some time at the gallery in Zurich in June. It’s kind of non-stop. I’m hosting a big party at my studio in Santa Monica and the mayor of Santa Monica is coming to it. The party is to support local vendors and homegrown businesses, and I am all about my community. The front half of my space is an art gallery and then my studio is in the back. It’s a lot like the Design District here — a lot of the galleries are artist-owned. Mine is the same way. I am so excited about the fact that the mayor is coming. We are literally rolling out a red carpet.

Seen at the opening: Katie Harris, Cynthia Brown, Paula Richmond, Terri and Adam Zoblotsky, Jami and John Delorimier, Dana Fort, Paula Richmond, Jessica Uccello, Jennifer Blankenship, Dana Krieg, Vicky Schweitzer, Rainey Rizzo, Maddie Preston, Adele Broughton, Charles Kennedy, and Andre Mantout.

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