Dan Lam: Form and Materials

Dan Lam (@Sopopomo)

I found Dan Lam on instagram and was taken back by the way the artist uses polyurethane in a way that is free-forming and organic but also more controlled and artificial than expanding foam. Dan Lam's work almost makes suggestion about artificiality AND naturalness all at once, due to the way the work swells and bubbles naturally but the materials/application of paint/textures are synthetic. She makes reference to our own ideas of what is real/fake when it comes to our constructs of beauty when discussing her work. She is interested in how the viewer reacts to her work, which is my like my practice. Exploring as to when the viewer is more attracted to a piece or more interestingly, why they dislike it. It’s easy to dismiss something at first glance if you don’t like it, but sort of forcing yourself to look at it longer than you normally would is where the juicy self-discoveries are.

Lam is different to my practice for a number of reasons but one thing that she actively attempts NOT to do is reference other things directly. Such as sea anemones, microbes, children's toys, reptilian animals, or even cake frosting that some viewers make comparisons too. In terms of process, Lam usually just sees basic shapes and colours and goes from there, sometimes working on multiple pieces at a time to lead to new discoveries within the previous piece. This is something I would like to do in my future work as it is so liberating.

Going back to materials, Lam uses layers of polyurethane foam, usually on some kind of armature, like the image above was probably a dome of some kind. Then using layers of paint and resin, back and forth, until it's finished.

"I really enjoy working with the foam, it’s the most challenging part. It’s difficult to control and timing is huge, so it’s always an exercise in letting go."

-Dan Lam, Maake Magazine

I really want to experiment with different types of polyurethane foam if this is possible as a way of having a sort of control about it.