Amber Goldhammer is fast becoming California’s most feel-good pop artist with her vivid fusions of abstract art and graffiti. Inspirational words of love, hope and positivity give her work a universal appeal but, attuned to the zeitgeist, she tempers the gentleness of her language with the edginess of a street artist.
Her new collection of mixed media works reflects the ebb and flow of Goldhammer’s personal life experiences. There is, she says, no analysing or conceptualising that takes place, but each individual painting is a self-reflection, growing organically in response to a moment, a thought, or an idea; ‘a union between myself, the canvas and the paint’.
She lays the foundation for each piece with multiple layers of vibrant colour, each one characterised by unique drips and blocks of paint created with sweeping gestural movements. The vigour and spontaneity of her approach engenders a strong sense of flow and forms a colourful launchpad for the words she uses to articulate her uplifting message.
Goldhammer’s joyful signature style has had a powerful response from collectors across the US. Several large hotel groups have recognised her magical gift of evoking calm, and her art is a permanent fixture in all 74 hotel rooms at Hotel Wilshire in Los Angeles, as well as in Kimpton Epic Hotel, Miami and Kimpton Shinjuku Hotel, Tokyo.
The STRAT Hotel, Casino and Skypod in Las Vegas has a permanent Goldhammer exhibition on the entire circular floor 109 stories up. As guests enter, they are embraced by the warmth and colour of her work, and the tallest observation tower in the USA becomes a place to both look out at the distant horizon and to look in and reflect on one’s own emotions.
It is not only the hospitality industry that has seen the benefits of Goldhammer’s work both as an aesthetic addition and as a statement of intent. In Hollywood, Casting Networks has branded their HQ and eight of their international locations with her art, and in 2021 she collaborated with powerhouse Paris fashion brand, Isabel Marant to create a special edition runway line. Her artworks have been displayed on TV series including Million Dollar Listing, Crazy Ex- Girlfriend, Scandal and GLOW as well as HBO’s Silicon Valley and Disney’s Lizzie McGuire, and notable collectors include billionaire businessman Graeme Hart, Actor Katie Lowes, businesswoman and reality TV star Farrah Brittany, comedian Kevin Hart, and world-renowned animator Peter Dodd.
Born in Portland, Oregon but now based in Santa Monica, Goldhammer first turned to the visual arts when injuries ended her career as a champion gymnast. Always a talented artist she had previously worked exclusively with abstraction, but she became increasingly interested in the idea of art as communication, seeing each canvas as a way to convey something important to her that she believed to be worth sharing. Paying attention to the environment and harnessing the energy of the world and the people around her, she discovered that inspiration came naturally and often from unexpected quarters.
Inspired by creativity in all its guises she loves to explore the latest movements in the worlds of interior design, architecture, performance art and music; “but”, she says, “painting is the one thing that I understand to my core. It fills me up, it makes me happy and I cannot live without it. Life can be both gritty and magical and my works express both extremes, depending on what is happening in my life and the environmental surroundings. It is soulful work; it is physical work; it is mental work; not in the sense of forcing creativity, but in letting go of the mind so much that creativity flows naturally. Every day is a beautiful challenge.”
