Rainbow Connection
I first encountered the work of artist Hadley Holliday hanging on the curated wall of stylish shoe designer Beatrice Valenzuela's studio apartment. The rainbow-colored painting, with its slightly childish bent, undulating curves and translucent quality, was the centerpiece of a room full of handmade ceramics, textiles and drawings — each object unique, carefully chosen and obviously well-loved.
I immediately filed a Holliday painting in my "things to acquire when I get some extra cash" list. Shortly thereafter, I saw another one of her paintings hanging in the bedroom of jewelry designer Kathryn Bentley's chic Echo Park craftsman. This was no coincidence. The L.A. artist was clearly tapping into something fashion-savvy women were digging.
SWIRL GIRL: "Forever and Never"
A Kansas City native with an MFA from Cal Arts and a background in arts administration, Holliday, 39, lives and works in El Sereno (that's east, east L.A. to most of us), in a light-filled two-bedroom aerie bordering Arroyo Seco Park and surrounded on all sides by greenery. Her studio, located below her living space, is a treasure trove of her own paintings, sketches and drawings, with one fantastically colorful wall dedicated to cut-outs of other artist's work that she uses as inspiration.
Like the abstract painter Lee Mullican, Holliday references ancient ethnic and folk art forms in her work. She points to a vibrant, complicated-looking Indian Celestial Diagram. "It's supposed to be a map of the universe," she said. "I love that idea that something abstract and so simple, just squares and circles, could be trying to represent everything. It's kind of absurd, but I'm interested in the idea that it's trying."
MUTED MAGIC: "Breakaway"
INNOCENCE FOUND: "Long Shot"
Though beloved by the fashion set, Holliday doesn't consider her work to be fashionable, per se. But like local superstars Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte, whose creativity and textiles are an inspiration to her, Holliday is not afraid to be decorative. "With abstraction you're always on the edge of, 'Is it decorative or is it art?' So rather than try to avoid the decorative, which I think a lot of abstract artists in the past have done, I want to go there and see what happens. I think that impulse that humans have always had to embellish and to decorate is really interesting. I like the idea that people want to spend a lot of time with my work and live with my art. If somebody wants to live with one of my pieces, that's a great compliment."
When she's not painting or teaching painting, drawing and art appreciation at College of the Canyons, Holliday takes day trips to Huntington Gardens and La Piedra Beach in Malibu, pores through E.M. Forster novels and works her vegetable garden. "I love the indoor/outdoor aspect of living in L.A.," she said. "It's very conducive to making art. My husband and I do archery — that's kind of my weird hobby — we just discovered it a year and a half ago. But since we started doing it, I keep thinking about how it's like painting. It's got this intensity of looking and concentration, but then in the moment you do it, you just kind of let it go."
BOXED IN: "Sky Window"
Hadley Holliday shows her work at Solway Jones gallery in Chinatown. Go to hadleyholliday.com for more information about her work and upcoming shows.
Sierra Feldner-Shaw is a writer and editor originally from Oregon, and excels in finding cool stories for Style Section L.A.