SCULPTURE
Lick It
2025 | 30″ x 48″ x 90.5“
wood, vinyl wrap, vintage card chairs, paint, custom-printed fabric, metal, resin
Trash Chair
2024 | 36”x 24” x 20”
found chair, vinyl, custom printed fabric, trash
The second in a series, created by deconstructing discarded furniture found on the side of the road and re-upholstering it with transparent vinyl windows which allow for the trash within to be seen. Other portions are upholstered in custom fabric printed with photos of the shredded paper, plastics and materials that were collected throughout 2024 in an effort to make the studio waste-neutral.
Sweet Dreams, My Darlings
2024 | 66″ x 42″ x 7′
wooden headboard and bed-frame, mattress, frame, digital print
In the style of a bedding section display at a high-end department store, this sculpture employs a visually overt and subliminal mantra that, while simple, can amount to a larger impact when internalized and eventually acted upon by the viewer. von Dolle is interested in the ability of text and words to be absorbed subconsciously via the skin and eyes as light filters through the lighter portions of fabric onto, and into us during states of increased permeability and malleability while relaxing or sleeping. Since we easily absorb repetitive branding, logos, marketing and illuminated advertising, he aims to counteract the effects these things have on us (and of consumer culture in general), and attempts to cancel out its cultivation of greed by employing similar tactics using interior design methods to enforce a more ideal state of being.
An American Haiku No. 1
2019 | 120″ x 168″ x 78″
wood, stucco, paint
The idea of how matter-of-factly, and suddenly one can be killed, and have their life taken from them in mere moments, seems to easily be forgotten in the public realm. Even in the most notable instances of shocking mass shootings, it seems that most fade into memory-quickly. The sheer size of this work makes it difficult not to grapple with and not easily overlooked for people passing by, as a public reminder of these events.
Coffee Table with Guns (Add Roses)
2019 | 17” x 48” x 24”
plexiglass, cast resin
An exercise in understanding how beauty can affect the viewer’s ability to decode an object. In it I explore the relationship between the gun and the rose, as symbols and as objects. This sculpture is a participatory piece where fresh roses are added by the viewer to complete the connection, beyond the artist.
Guns and Roses
2019 | 36″ x 36″
wood, glass, plaster, plastic
The Babies Meet Their Forefathers
2020 | 6” x 19” x 12”
book safe, cast resin
Getting Comfy with Red (Bang Bang)
2019 | Chair: 34” x 31” x 39” / Ottoman: 34” x 31” x 39”
custom printed fabric, wood, foam, wool, down and feathers
This club chair and ottoman are upholstered in fabric printed with an enlarged photo of the piece Bang Bang You’re Dead being displayed in front of the Berlin wall, taken in the summer of 2019 as part of a photographic series in which it was displayed in different European cities and public, outdoor contexts. The throw blanket is also designed around the piece, but distilled into embroidery on wool.
Sit Down But Don’t Get Too Comfortable
2019 | 34″ x 31″ x 39″
fabric, wood, foam, down and feathers
Printed on the fabric of this upholstered chair is an image of my sculpture “Guns and Roses”, made into a pattern, which represents the symbols of opposition occupying the same space. In this work I anthropomorphize the gun and the rose to reference male and female symbolism.
My Comfort is Non-Negotiable
2019 | 34″ x 31″ x 39″
fabric, wood, foam, down and feathers
The overall pattern of the fabric is images of opposition. The language is printed on the border of the chair in a location reserved for fancy trims and decoration. The idea of an object being completely detailed and exquisitely fitted with a message of twenty first century moral ‘angst” is a subversive moment juxtaposing good ‘taste’ with good ‘thinking’.
Trash Talk
2019 | 34″ x 31″ x 39″
fabric, vinyl, shredded trash, wood
School’s Out
2019 | 4’ x 24” x 48”
wood, resin, school desk
The idea of school safety is symbolized by an empty school desk, bedazzled with flowers and beads, along with the inscription: BANG BANG YOU’RE DEAD in reference to my sculpture of the same name. The book is an opened Bible safe holding a bedazzled gun as if to gloss over the hard truth of violence in our schools with no resolution in sight.
Half-A-David
2019 | 67″ x 24″ 18″
Concrete, wood panels, digitally printed floor mat, metal, plaster, wood, plastic
The Renaissance is the emergence of human society from its slumber and its reconnection with the pursuits of learning, intellect and art. And out of all the work undertaken during this time, Michelangelo’s David is itself the symbol of our connection with all that is noble and moral in humanity: strength, character, leadership. And so with Half-A-David, Michelangelo’s David is a symbol for another connection: to the spread of misery, ignorance, and strife in the pursuit of wealth and power in the guise of spreading their singular religious truths. In the moment of the expansion of the known world, the white western powers used constantly developing areas of science and learning to enrich themselves at the expense of those people in their path. The legacy of this is found in the violence and instability in so called third world countries.
Daddy’s Tough Love
2019 | 66″ x 32″ x 9″
hard resin, foam, light box, photograph
This work represents the complex function of our media devices today recording “truth”. The photograph was taken at the British Museum in London where I placed my piece Bang Bang You’re Dead at the base of the sculpture of George Washington. The title of the piece refers to the parental discipline required of children in need of nurturing in the face of bad choices. This piece brings to mind the issues of personal responsibility, the Constitution, The Second Amendment, and social responsibility.
Fantasy Sadness
2019 | 66″ x 32″ x 9″
hard resin, foam, light box, photograph
This sculpture conjures the idea of a young girl’s phone, with the disconnect between the fantasy created in American leisure-life and the reality of gun violence in children’s lives today. This photo was taken in Berlin near the Brandenburg Gate.
Rat-Ta-Tat Tattered
2019 | dimensions variable | 96” x 62” x 12”
paint, plaster, wood panels, plastic, metal bench, fabric flags
This piece’s impetus came while reading the packaging for the toy handguns used in the composition. The description of the gun mentioned that it made the –rat ta tat–sound. I began thinking that it sounded like tap dancing, which led to finding a WWII poster of Ann Miller dancing. The shredded flags below it were used to create embroidered “sand-bags” similar to the ones used to create bunkers in a battlefield.
God Is My Gun
2019 | 78” 36” x 14”
wood, plaster, books
The work meditates with no answers on the inscrutable relationship of violence and religious expansion through historic missionary work and the contemporary connection of guns with god.
Un-Gun Me Jesus
2019 | 35” x 24” x 8”
wood, cell phone, plaster, plexiglass
This work incorporates a cell phone with a small pistol jutting out from it with the message–as if we were calling Jesus directly: Un gun me Jesus—–Today. The phone is mounted directly to an unfinished wood 2×4, with plaster slashes as if a cross. The museum gold leaf label attached lends an air of authenticity to this makeshift composition.
Is There Anything More Important than Money
1810 – 2021 | 57” x 24” x 14”
Clock and bronze panel
The work combines two disparate items from different centuries to create a contemporary conversation of ideas and meaning. The language panel is clear in its communication whereas the clock uses the veiled references to classical myth and symbolism to communicate a greater meaning in juxtaposition with the language in the bronze panel. The clock shows three elements: The clock face: Time. The figure to the left: Psyche: Soul. The figure to the right: Cupid: Love. Are these the answers to a simple question?
Gun Safety
2019 | 6″ x 10″
resin, condom
Oh Shit
2019 | 4.5″ x 4″
ink on toilet paper
Adam von Dolle 