Ever since we took an interest in opening the showroom at 375 East Burnside, I have been obsessed with everything related to the Fair-Haired Dumbbell (FHD) building.

The Fair-Haired Dumbbell by Guerilla Development with mural by James Jean

One of the many amazing discoveries I made about the building, the architect who designed it, and the community of people who developed the property and invested love into this space is related to the brightly-colored mural that adorns its exterior.  The FHD was the idea of the effervescent Kevin Cavenaugh, an architect who strongly believes that “Portland doesn’t need another grey building.”  Cue: the facade mural competition.

James Jean, a Taiwanese-American artist whose home base is Los Angeles, won an international competition to paint his vision on the building we call our studio space and design gallery.  So what was his inspiration for this larger-than-life artwork?

“I imagined that the oblique walls were formed by slicing down the sides to reveal cross sections of thunder eggs and geodes, which are in abundance in Oregon. Ideas of transparency and discovery—of excavating slices of internal anatomy like MRI scans—are meant to echo the creativity of the tenants in the building. Their slow-forming inertia is a counterpoint to the speed of the swirling kinetic activity on the streets. Then, in contrast to the hard, crystalline lines of the thunder egg motif, a lyrical network of flowers links the elements together. That’s meant to evoke growth, adaptability, and interconnectedness. They erupt from the ground and wrap around the thunder eggs at points, symbolic of the city’s relationship with nature and mindfulness of the environment.” – James Jean

I definitely feel an uptick in my internal energy when I approach the building on my way to work. It’s hard to imagine what it would be like to not have this testament to life greeting me every day at my front door, reminding me to push further, do better, and not to forget to offer the world something other than the next grey building in Portland.

Art by James Jean

To learn more about James Jean, his art, and the painting of the Fair-Haired Dumbbell: