Studio Visit & Interview with Dadadoodles
By Jes Distad
Nestled away in a quiet Oakland neighborhood is a nondescript garage that contains a plethora of amazing art. Mila Moldenhawer (he/him/his) aka Dadadoodles is Bay Area born and bred. His uncanny flamboyant figures are energized, playful, and exude joy. It's no wonder his bright figures are part of Moth Belly's June Soft Shock pride show.
His figures are trans and colorful and leave lots of room for interpretation. There's a certain refinement and cleanliness to his work too that makes me feel like each piece was very intentionally born into this world. The details and imagination create some really fantastical anthropomorphized figures. In a way, I think I am equally drawn into Mila's process and how care and special attention create a world of possibilities and inclusion that in a way bring viewers into what trans euphoria can feel like.
Aside from being an amazing artist, Mila is also seemingly a pretty dope human being. I left our studio visit with hella podcast recommendations and an overwhelming sense that I just met someone who knows himself better than most people could ever hope to at their age. I'm carrying with me still a sense that with enough time, care, and intention, a more loving and kinder world is possible.
Go check out Soft Shock at Moth Belly and please enjoy our conversation on art below!
Interview
Thanks so much for showing me around your space. I have seen a lot of art studios and yours is one the most organized I've ever seen!
I find a clear space allows me to have a clear mind. Truth be told, I did tidy up before you came, but I do generally like a clean space; it really allows me to focus on the task at hand.
For those that don't know you, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what kind of art you make?
My name is Mila Moldenhawer! I’m a visual artist who paints, tattoos, and makes murals. I was born in Berkeley, CA; my mom came here from India and my Dad from Poland. I went through all the Berkeley public schools and ultimately got my degrees in Art Practice and Sociology from UC Berkeley. I used to make mostly ceramics and thought of drawing as just something fun and cool to do, but when the pandemic hit I really had the time to develop my own painting practice.
“Vanity Is A Beautiful Sin", 24”x18” Acrylic Paint on Canvas, 2023. Part of the group exhibit “Soft Shock” taking place now, June 2023.
I often work in bold, brightly tinted, and highly saturated colors, and my paintings are composed using acrylic and aerosol paints. My work is abstract and representational; I flow between hard angular edges and soft blends to formulate a balance between rigidity and fluidity. My abstract landscapes are the facet of my practice that is a bit more free than my portraiture. Landscapes allow me to explore novel ways of filling a space through purely shape, color, texture, and new tools. My portraits are more of an experiment in uncanny figures, anthropomorphic subjects, and my personal exploration of a queer aesthetic in art.
I love your anthropomorphized objects, and I really like what you said about all your figures being trans. Can you tell me more about that?
The notion of “trans” underpins each of my characters, and it's a suffix meaningful to me in many ways. The best way to explain it with words is through looking at the conjunctions affixed to it: trans-gender, trans-formative, trans-liminal, trans-mutation, trans-human. These words, in many ways, encapsulate the underlying narrative of my work. The forms through which I create a trans space is a way to let viewers in and allow them to understand the many complexities and dimensionalities of the trans experience.
Same vein, how does your queerness show up in your work?
My use of flamboyant colors and multidimensional fragmented shapes is the big way. Oftentimes a feeling of fragmentation is prevalent in my understanding of queerness, because it's always shifting based on the relativity of the time and place I’m in. My social understanding of the queer experience and its aesthetic ambiguity is part of what I represent in my figure. They often stand alone, confronting the viewer directly, not hiding and yet not particularly emoting towards the viewer. They are really a stand alone figure.
You mentioned you are also a tattoo artist. What are some of your other mediums and how cohesive would you say your work is across mediums?
I think tattooing is an evolution of my doodles, which were a constant in my life; always in the margins of my school work and beyond.
Starting in high school up until early in my college career, ceramics was my main medium. I always felt confident in my abilities in the 3rd dimension. Yet I also felt limited by its practicality. I kind of stopped ceramics when I was doing more conceptual installation works at school and then ultimately.
Nowadays I work with wood a bit, do murals, paint and tattoo. I think my work translates quite cohesively across mediums. The main differences are based on the possibilities that I can or cannot achieve with a certain set of tools. For example, when I’m doing a mural, although it's paint I’m using, it takes a different technique to scale up that much, and with tattooing it can be a challenge to scale down so much and then work with the different curves, textures, and taut of the skin. Each medium has its own novel set of challenges that become a humbling experience that gives me a greater understanding of all mediums.
You are not afraid to work with color. What importance or meaning does color take on in your work?
Color is so important. I think it might be one of the most important parts. It's one of the first things people notice when they see my work, and the first comment I get is, “Wow you're colors are so vibrant!”
Color is essential to me because it fuels the feelings of joy, pride, and expression. It brings cohesion and feeling to a space or composition. Think about something even as simple as a sunny day versus a cloudy day. Which day do you like more? Which day makes you feel more alive? I suppose it's different for everyone, but for me color means joy and jubilance. Although art does not always have to convey joy, growing up, my artistic sense of color was keenly developed through witnessing the variety of ways it could be used and placed through beautiful Indian fabrics and textiles, in pillows, coasters, candles, food, and even smells. My mom loved orange; we had this big orange wall in our home that always felt so warm to me. I think a lot of my willingness to accept color, whether straight out of the tube or mixed to my delight comes from all the pleasures associated with it. I also think color is a way for queer people to say, I’M HERE! It's a statement that's loud and proud and joyful, hence the rainbow design made by Gilbert Baker by request of Harvey Milk that made its debut in San Francisco for the Pride Parade in 1978!
“Flowers & Filth”, 31”x24”, Acrylic on Canvas, 2023. Part of the group exhibit “Soft Shock” taking place now, June 2023.
You have the distinction of being a Bay Area artist born and raised. How have you seen the art scene evolve over the years?
Sometimes it's hard to tell because I wasn't as engaged with the arts scene when I was younger. What I can say is that I used to go to First Friday a lot in middle school and high school, and I always felt like there were a lot of painters selling their work. I also feel like the graffiti scene was strong. In retrospect, I thought it was the coolest thing so I was intimidated. I remember seeing small shops with handmade airbrushed t-shirts, skateboards, and other things and always thinking it would be the coolest thing in the world to own a shop like that. I also saw a lot graffiti characters and art painted in the streets and being very inspired by it and trying to copy it and use it to develop my own styles. I think it's still very much alive, but maybe a bit more reserved now.
How do you know when a piece is finished?
A piece is finished when I come to a place in which if I add anything else it could totally ruin the piece. Or if the piece is perfectly balanced, it's finished. Or if there is just a deadline and I don't have time to explore anymore, it's done haha.
I really enjoyed talking to you about accessibility in art. Do you mind re-sharing some of what you shared with me earlier?
I feel like accessibility in art is huge. I mean with Instagram now it might feel like we all have access to art from everywhere but access to art really goes beyond that. Besides the fact that we of course don't all have access owning the art we really want, we don't all have access to equal conversations around art. Graffiti is like the neighborhood and art in the street is like community conversations. It's the person who’s always right there always trying to engage you in conversation. Art in museums on the other hand is like traveling to a new place, new state or country. It's a possibility, it's a conversation but it takes more research. might teach you something completely new but it's not as easy to take in and learn from and engage with. I think many people go to the museum to see a famous artist’s work but don't really enjoy it much, it often takes a great amount of education to enjoy the museum in all its context.
Who are some of your artistic influences both classic and contemporary?
I think my main influences have been anonymous artist whose art I saw on the streets when I was younger, as well as art movements like surrealism, cubism, bauhaus, the memphis movement, Pop art and Dadaism. Some artist I admire and have been influenced by include; Woody Othello, Judy Chicago, David Hockney, Joseph Slusky, Nevena Prijic, Jack Whitten, Peter Shire, Jeffery Cheung, Lowbros, Muzae Sesay, Marbie, Casket.sleep, Marbie, Toy Machine, Rime MSK, ZEBU.
What are some of your hopes for your art in the future?
I hope to create more murals, take part in more public art projects in the Bay Area, meet more artist in my community and around the world and most of all continue making the art I really love and trying new things.
Where can we find your art in the coming months?
You can always find my art on my website or Instagram. Otherwise, I’ll be part of the Soft Times Gallery Small Works Exhibit from July to August. I also have work up right now at Parachute Home in Hayes Valley and I am currently making work for The Healing Garden, in the west end arts district of Alameda. Other than that I have some other stuff I’m working on but can't talk about yet, stay tuned on Instagram! :)
