ABOUT
Art As Activism
Adam von Dolle lives and works between South Florida and New York City with an artistic practice focused on the full spectrum of media and format, from installation and sculpture to the 2-dimensional, blurring the lines between interior design and conceptual art. At the core of Adam von Dolle’s practice is the fundamental mission to promote change through creation. Each piece he creates is a reaction or a call to action in response to the events and histories that shape our society, spanning each painfully recent instance of gun violence to the problematic and precarious foundations upon which American life exists today.
von Dolle originally trained as an interior designer after studying for twelve years in a Catholic seminary and monastery. He received his Masters of Science in Interior Design from Pratt Institute in 1983 before working with I.M. Pei and Partners, becoming the Vice President of Interior Design at Welton Becket and eventually creating his own design business, Adam Dolle Incorporated.
He founded Adam Dolle Studio in 2018 to channel the resources and cross-disciplinary methodology he developed within his design career into a newly invigorated art career, producing a wide body of work while creating a environment of collaboration within the local art community. von Dolle’s work has been exhibited throughout South Florida in solo exhibitions including 2019’s Flower in the Gun at 13th Street Studio, Fort Lauderdale and A Question of Morals at Studio 1608, West Palm Beach in addition to group shows like Biblio at Palm Beach Modern & Contemporary and the Envisions Awards at Box Gallery, West Palm Beach.
Artist Statement
Adam Von Dolle’s main focus is creating work that compresses the ideas of cultural morality: gun culture, wealth, social responsibility, popular culture– with the practical, historical, and conventional elements of domestic interior design, pulling from his earlier studies and career. Each work speaks to the curious and mostly unexamined manner in which many assemble their home environment, free of morally relevant statements, be it inoffensive chairs, sideboards or a chest of drawers. He believes that the “values neutral” aspect of most contemporary interior design creates a kind of black hole in the representation of one’s most personally held core values– as well as a missed opportunity to gently (or overtly), periodically reinforce one’s personal belief system via the environment around them. Historically there is a rich tradition of social, religious and personal values finding representation in the interiors of all societies: Baroque art and architecture, the Japanese Sukiya Tea Room, Shaker interiors, among many others. von Dolle seeks to find the context for such spaces in our contemporary environments to represent and shape our core social values. His extensive interior design experience and knowledge of technique and fabrication methods allows him to incorporate a wide variety of domestic and industrial materials into his work which often subverts the idea of inactive functional furnishings turning them into art objects and environments with the sole function of exploring issues of morality and difficult subjects at the core of what it means to be an American today.
A Philosophy of Philanthropy
MoralWorx | moralworx.com
A philanthropic business, founded by Adam von Dolle, that produces and sells home furnishings that reflect moral concepts. The purpose in offering these items is to provide the opportunity, not only to reflect one’s moral compass , but to also reinforce those beliefs in daily individual interactions with these ideas—mantra like– and in expected exchanges with others. A portion of the profits made through the sale of these products are donated to organizations benefitting those experiencing homelessness.
Pionero Philanthropy | pionerophilanthropy.org
Pionero Philanthropy offers a range of services, from a simple “matchmaking” with Guatemalan nonprofit organizations to hands-on assistance with project implementation and nonprofit evaluations.
The Our Fund Foundation | our-fund.org
Project currently under development funded with a $250,000 grant to support and evaluate the work of trans non-profits in the queer community in South Florida.
Adam von Dolle 