BijaAdvisors

Seeds of Thought
Actionable Intelligence for Those Who Seek Growth

Issue 15-3
January 28, 2015

Close Enough
What you see in this image is a poorly lit photo of a
Chuck Close painting, taken with my iPhone. For
those unfamiliar with his work, here is what British
art historian, Tim Marlow, had to say about this
American artist. (He is) a kind of lone figure in
contemporary art - no one else is doing what he is
doing. He's a painter's painter, but his reputation is
still growing. I'd put him among the top 10 most
important American artists since abstract
expressionism, no question. Of course, Closes
paintings arent everyones cup of tea, but make no
mistake, he is a giant in contemporary art, having
had major retrospectives at the most prestigious
museums in the world and his paintings
consistently fetch many millions of dollars at
auction. He is far and away my favorite artist and the greatest influence on my own work, as an
artist and a global macro investor.
It may not be apparent from the photo above, but Chuck Close is a portraiture artist, beginning as
a photorealist before moving into pixelated work. He has created massive portraits composed of
dots made with a pencil eraser dipped in charcoal, some using torn pieces of paper in different
shades of gray and still others using nothing but his fingerprint and an inkpad. In the photo
above, he uses pixels filled with colorful, amoeba-like shapes to generate a beautiful self-portrait.
Dont see it? Thats because I cut out the rest of the image. I truncated your frame of reference
and selected only what I wanted you to see in order to tell you a specific story. If I had shown
you the entire painting, you might have missed all the intricate details of this sector, including
the interplay of lively colors and childlike shapes. Truth is, I could have selected a similarly sized
section of any one of his many paintings that employs this style to create a portrait. With only
that section, you would see beauty, color and artistry, but you could never see depth, or how that
sector contributes to and is affected by those surrounding it.
If I provided you with every single sector of every Close creation in which he employed this
technique, you could hold your own in an intelligent, in-depth conversation about the intricacies
of Closes paintings with any expert on his work. However, you would know so little about the
paintings themselves. Youd be hard pressed to recognize whether it is of a man, a woman or
even a person at all. In discussing the fine details, you might sound intelligent, even to someone
who knows the big picture, and would likely believe it yourself, but the reality is, youd know
little about the subject.
!
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Bija Advisors

Seeds of Thought

Pixelated Perspective
Monday night, I joined my wife on the couch as Anderson Coopers 360 began to broadcast on
CNN. He began by telling his viewers that we could look forward to a special 2 hour edition of
the show that would bring us all the latest on the Storm of the Century. By the 27th minute, I was
banned from the room by my wife.
During those 27 minutes, they had live reports from around the northeast where reporters spoke
of 30 foot waves, erosion of the shoreline, hurricane force winds and snow drifts that forced the
closure of schools and transportation systems. Anderson brought in an expert, a CNN
weatherman, who went to great lengths to explain why they would never cry wolf about such a
storm, because then no one would listen to them in the future. They went on and on about the
catastrophic consequences and the intelligent decision making by governors and mayors in the
region to deal with them proactively.
Over the course of 27 minutes, one of the most viewed news outlets in the world ignored every
other story they had been presenting as vital information just hours earlier and would return to
come morning. It was as though nothing mattered except the weather in the northeast. They
showed us just one sector of the entire canvas of what was newsworthy and we were glued to the
screens. For hours, it dominated social media and phone conversations. Millions adjusted their
schedules, canceled meetings and moved cars off the streets. Everything else in the world took a
back seat.
The truth is, the weather wasnt the only newsworthy story last night, any more than bed bugs,
ISIS, The Interview, Abe, Draghi, or the SNB were when the
entire world was hyper-focused on them for a time. Ultimately,
they are all just tiny sections of a much bigger painting. They
are all essential to the big picture, but must be understood
within the context of the whole to be of value.
The media and analysts focus your attention on these amoebalike pixels because the results can be seen and felt almost
instantaneously. They make for nice tidy stories. The effects of
things like wealth disparity, Chinese urbanization and
technological innovation, dont lend themselves to hyperbole
and drama. They require more of an effort to understand their
consequences, but what I like about these topics is that they are
more powerful and, interestingly, more predictable in the long
run. As an investor, what more could you want?

About the Author

Over a 28 year career in finance and economics, Stephen Duneier has headed global investment
businesses for Bank of America and AIG International, launched two hedge funds and generated
average annualized returns of 20.3% on a portfolio approaching $1 billion in AuM. In addition to
publishing Bija Advisors unique brand of actionable intelligence for the institutional investment
community, key policymakers and business leaders, he regularly speaks around the world on
macroeconomic related topics, as well as how to improve performance through a more mindful
approach to decision making.
Issue No. 15-3

January 28, 2015

Bija Advisors

Seeds of Thought

Mr. Duneier teaches Decision Analysis at the University of California, Santa Barbaras College
of Engineering and is an accomplished artist whose work has been featured in numerous
international publications and is represented by the world-renowned gallery, Sullivan Goss. He
received his masters degree in finance and economics from New York Universitys Stern School
of Business.
BijaAdvisorsLLC.com
In publishing research, Bija Advisors LLC is not soliciting any action based upon it. Bija Advisors LLCs publications contain material based
upon publicly available information, obtained from sources that we consider reliable. However, Bija Advisors LLC does not represent that it is
accurate and it should not be relied on as such. Opinions expressed are current opinions as of the date appearing on Bija Advisors LLCs
publications only. All forecasts and statements about the future, even if presented as fact, should be treated as judgments, and neither Bija
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to time, Bija Advisors LLC and its partners will hold investments in securities and other positions, in equity, bond, currency and commodities
markets, from which they will benefit if the forecasts and judgments about the future presented in this document do prove to be accurate. Bija
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Issue No. 15-3

January 28, 2015