Dan Lam

Dan Lam (born January 28, 1988) is an American sculptor of Vietnamese ancestry, best known for her "drippy"[1] sculptures and use of vibrant color. Using non-traditional materials of polyurethane foam, acrylic paint and epoxy resin, her finished work often dangles over shelf ledges, contrasting emotions of desire and disgust. Lam lives and works in Dallas.

Dan Lam
Born (1988-01-28) January 28, 1988
Morong, Bataan, Philippines
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of North Texas,
Arizona State University
Known forSculpture, Non-traditional materials
MovementNew contemporary, psychedelic art

Early life and education

Lam's parents fled Vietnam in 1986, spending years moving around Southeast Asia. Lam was born in a refugee camp in Morong, Bataan, Philippines, where she spent the first few months of her life as her parents awaited sponsorship from family in Houston, Texas, where she spent the first several years of her childhood.[2] An only child, Lam spent substantial time alone making things with whatever materials she had at hand, an inclination which blossomed once exposed to her first art classes in grade school.[3]

Lam earned bachelor's and master's degrees in Drawing and Painting from the University of North Texas and Arizona State University, respectively.[4] As a graduate student one professor challenged her for making things "too pretty," which inspired her to explore concepts of excessive beauty.[5]

Work

After graduate school, Lam moved to Midland, Texas, where she began a year of solitary work in her studio. During this time, desiring more contact with the artistic community, she turned to social media by opening an Instagram account, where her work began to capture attention quickly.[2] In 2016, her following on that platform grew rapidly from approximately 11,000 followers, to over 76,000, and included celebrities such as Miley Cyrus, an event which coincided with growing recognition in the art world of the importance of social media.[6] One video of Lam's finger poking a molten "squish" resembling a sprinkled birthday cake received over 15 million views, and giant forms of her work have been featured as combination art exhibit and social media marketing campaign, further identifying Lam with the most recent trends allowing artists to make contact with the world.[7]

Lam's distinct style of sculpture is repeatedly referred to as alien or other-worldly, with vibrant, bright colors. Her sculptures invoke an organic feel, named "blobs, drips, and squishes," which appear as though they might be or come alive. People have found them irresistible to touch in person, to the point that at some exhibitions, one or two of her pieces are placed out front as "sacrifices" so that visitors may use their hands.[2]

As her work has progressed, Lam continues to explore the dichotomy between ugliness and beauty, pressing the boundary of perception where beauty seems to become too much, suddenly flipping to the grotesque. Her sculptures range from intense, bright colored, smooth liquid-like surfaces that invite the touch, to spikey dangerous looking forms, and even ones completely encrusted with Swarovski crystal rhinestones. Along with exploring the zone between attraction and repulsion, Lam plays with themes of organic vs. inanimate, seriousness vs. playfulness, soft and hard.[3] Lam attempts to find a balance between and among these contradictory concepts to evoke emotions and thoughtful consideration of shifting lines and perception. This exploration of the boundary between the beautiful and the ugly creates different responses among those who view her art, demonstrated by a growing following, while simultaneously garnering reactions among a few that are intense enough to be described as becoming "physically ill."[1]

Influences

Artists who have inspired Lam's work include Eva Hesse, Claes Oldenburg, and Lynda Benglis.[8]

Exhibitions

Solo

Crave the Unexpected (collaboration with Steve's Ice Cream) at Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston[9]
Delicious Monster at Hashimoto Contemporary, New York City, New York[10]
Infinite Playground at Stephanie Chefas Projects, Portland, Oregon[11]
Coquette at Fort Works Art, Fort Worth, Texas[12]

Group
Watch This Space at Lazinc x Danysz Gallery, London, England[13]
Shapes and Illusions at Danysz Gallery, Paris, France[14]
LURE presented by Tax Collection, Guy Hepner, New York City, New York[15]

  • Delicious Monster installation

References
  1. Grebey, James; Fang, David (May 18, 2016). "A Dallas-based sculptor makes strange yet beautiful drippy sculptures". Business Insider. Retrieved February 10, 2020. Dan Lam's art will make you do a double take.
  2. Krysa, Danielle (January 2, 2018). "Ugly Beautiful". The Jealous Curator - Art for Your Ear podcast Ep. #119. 3min: The Jealous Curator. Retrieved January 20, 2020. they were bouncing around in like Southeast Asia for I believe a couple years, when they landed in Manilla, where my mom was pregnant with meCS1 maint: location (link)
  3. Farr, Kristin (August 14, 2017). "Dan Lam - Doing The Most". Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine. Retrieved January 6, 2020. These pieces live between the worlds of the beautiful and the ugly, and as I push that idea further, the idea of excess has become really interesting.
  4. Sydney Cooper (June 21, 2018). "Dallas Artist Dan Lam's Art Is Unlike Anything Else". Dallas Observer. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
  5. Jansen, Charlotte (April 6, 2016). "Eye popping: Dan Lam's Polymorphous Sensory Sculptures". Wallpaper*. T1 Media Limited. Retrieved December 30, 2019. With the drippy sculptures, I look to the body (flesh, skin, foods) and nature (aposematism) for cues.
  6. Mawajdeh, Hady (October 4, 2016). "Instagram Brings Artists' Works Directly to The Public". NPR. Retrieved February 10, 2020. They sort of look like alien creatures or melting blobs and the internet loves them.
  7. McGreevy, Nora (June 13, 2019). "Art meets marketing for the Instagram Age at the ICA". Boston Globe. Retrieved February 10, 2020. Corporations know that even as millennials ignore many traditional forms of advertising, they crave experiences.
  8. Recinos, Eva (April 3, 2016). "These Drippy Sculptures Look Like Alien Organisms". Vice.com. Vice Media Group. Retrieved December 30, 2019. Her process builds on the standard forms of sculpture, but still represents experimentation with the medium.
  9. McGreevy, Nora (June 13, 2019). "Art meets marketing for the Instagram age at the ICA". Boston Globe. Retrieved January 20, 2020. Artist Dan Lam calls her otherworldly sculptures “drips,” although they're not liquid, but rather holographic spandex fabric filled with Styrofoam pellets.
  10. "Delicious Monster". Hashimoto Contemporary. Hashimoto Contemporary. May 4, 2019. Retrieved January 20, 2020. Hashimoto Contemporary is pleased to present Delicious Monster, a solo exhibition by Dallas, Texas based artist Dan Lam
  11. "Infinite Playground at Stephanie Chefas Projects". Stephanie Chefas Projects. Stephanie Chefas Projects. October 5, 2018. Retrieved January 20, 2020. In her latest collection of work, Lam continues to explore her otherworldly sensibility
  12. "Dan Lam: Coquette". Artsy. Artsy. August 2, 2016. Retrieved January 20, 2020. "Coquette" will feature all new large-scale installation work by artist Dan Lam.
  13. "Watch This Space at Lazinc Gallery, London". Slinkachu. November 29, 2019. Retrieved January 20, 2020. you can see creations from Vhils, Jan Kalab, Remi Rough, Dan Lam, The Miaz Brothers, 1010, Okuda and others.
  14. "Shapes and Illusions". Wall Street International Magazine. Wall Street International Magazine. January 10, 2020. Retrieved January 20, 2020. The expanded shapes made by Dan Lam are invading the exhibition space like a living material, combining surprising shapes and neon colors.
  15. "LURE". Tax Collection. Tax Collection. April 15, 2017. Retrieved January 20, 2020. LURE is a one-of-a-kind collaborative exhibition by renowned visual artists Dan Lam and John Foster.
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