Contemporary Art in Context: Dan Lam

At first glance, Dan Lam’s colorful, eye-catching sculptures might call to mind psychedelic imagery seen in music videos, animations, or rave fliers, but careful observation will reveal the complexity and depth behind her sculptures. Play and fun are obvious components of her work, as are a series of opposites—organic yet inanimate, serious yet lighthearted, and structured yet unstructured.

Squishes, Drips, and Blobs
Lam finds great inspiration in the natural world from things like fungus and mold. Rather than striving to duplicate them, she reinterprets their essence in her sculptures. In college, Lam was fascinated with the properties of paint, especially drips and liquid textures, and eventually became more interested in the texture and the layers of pigment than the images she was painting. In 2015, she discovered how to harness the complex dripping action of polyurethane. Lam now uses polyurethane foam, acrylic paint, and epoxy resin to form her Squish, Drip, and Blob sculptures.
In freestanding, drippy sculptures like Assert, she layers polyurethane foam atop a metal armature or around a base of hardened polyurethane. She carefully guides the flow of each layer, adds paint in vibrant colors, and tops the finished work with a layer of resin. In free-form pieces like Stacked, the layers seem to ooze from where they rest, growing stalactite-like drips, like a melting candle of many colors.

Art History: Process Art
Lam’s art relates to the Process art movement in the 1960s and 1970s. Process art stressed the use of malleable materials to produce works that evolve over time, often unpredictably or by chance, with minimal manipulation by the artist’s hands. Lam’s artistic influences include the “fallen paintings” of Lynda Benglis (b. 1941), the nature-inspired sculptures of Process artist Eva Hesse (1936–1970), the soft sculptures of Claes Oldenburg (1929–2022), and the layered installations of sculptor Tara Donovan (b. 1969). Her art is a visual record of the movement of polyurethane and is a grand example of the Postmodern Principle of Layering.

About the Artist
Lam was born in 1988 in the Philippines, near Manila, the child of Vietnamese refugee parents. As a child, she would accompany her mother to work, where her mother and other women hand-painted products for babies. From an early age, Lam made objects, drawings, and paintings. She believes her childhood, following her family’s move to Dallas, Texas, was the formative period for her creativity. She received a BFA in painting and drawing from the University of North Texas, and an MFA (2010) from Arizona State University. She initially studied graphic design because of the job possibilities, but ultimately switched to painting. After receiving positive reaction to her art on Instagram, she was motivated to pursue a career as an artist. Lam is currently exploring large-scale installations, including one at Meow Wolf in Grapevine, Texas, opening this summer.

ARTIST Q&A
What are some of the biggest influences on your work, including other artists, events, or things outside of the arts?
DL: Nature is the most significant influence on my work. Itʼs the thing I always go back to for inspiration, for recharging, for reconnecting. Itʼs an endless source of beauty that always has an answer. When I think about artists who I love (Tara Donovan, James Turrell, Olafur Eliasson), I get that same sense of wonder and being in the moment as I do in nature.

What is a typical workday like for you?
DL: Iʼm a night owl, so I start my day by working out and then making lunch. I head to the studio around 2 p.m. and work until 11 p.m. or midnight. During the day, itʼs more meetings and admin, and the second half is creating.

Do you have specific strategies, rituals, or routines that help you work and/or generate ideas?
DL: I give myself time off to do other activities and take regular breaks. I find that this is vital to keeping it fresh in the studio. Unless Iʼm working on an exhibition, I give myself space in the studio to play, experiment, sit and think, and reflect on the work without the pressure to finish something.

Tell us about one of the biggest moments in your career.
DL: Showing at the Nasher Sculpture Center was a big moment for me. The process for creating the piece Subtle Alchemy, which stands at 8' tall, was very physical and took two months of solid work. To see it all come together and presented at the Nasher was amazing. I grew up visiting this museum, so having my work in the space was pretty surreal.

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself as an emerging artist?
DL: Just keep listening to your intuition! Thereʼs no one path to being an artist; you can forge your way.

What significance do the thorn-like shapes in many of your works symbolize, or what inspired them?
DL: The most direct inspiration for the spikes in my work came from cacti. I lived in Arizona for four years and fell in love with the flora. I loved this idea of creating something beautiful, sweet, and candy colored, asking to be held and touched, only to have a ton of spikey points deflect as soon as you try to touch it.

What inspired the creation of your beautiful phone case sculptures (bit.ly/DanLamPhoneCases)?
DL: I made the first one for my use because I couldnʼt find anything unique on the market. We are always on our phones, and theyʼre always in our hands, and I saw the case as an accessory that could make a statement like jewelry or a bag. I kept making different versions to test strength and durability. The cases ended up being amazing conversation starters. I loved the curiosity and dialogue that they sparked and wanted to share that with others.

How easy is it to control polyurethane to produce the sophisticated nuances of color in your works?
DL: If you want something loose and free, polyurethane foam is very easy to work with. Itʼs fun and exploratory! I do add dyes to my foams, but my workʼs colors usually come from airbrushing or color mixing in paint.

DISCUSSION
Begin by showing students Dan Lam’s work. Place students in small groups and ask them to list as many adjectives, descriptions, and references as they can think of when viewing her sculptures. Working together, create a class list that combines elements from each group’s findings.

Next, ask students to imagine what Lam’s art-making process might be like and share their ideas.

Finally, share what you have learned about Lam’s process and background in this article. Leave students with a final question to consider: In visual art, which is more important: the process of creating or the finished artwork?

STUDIO EXPERIENCES

Experiment with acrylic paint and a thickening medium to create an artwork made entirely of drips and pours. What kind of thoughts or emotions do you experience working in this way?
Work in a small group to create a nonobjective sculpture. Try to create something that causes an emotional response in the viewer. What materials might you use?
A. Spend several class periods exploring process-based making without considering your final product. Try at least three different processes in any media and record the steps you followed and your reflections on it in your sketchbook or journal. Choose one of your experimental processes and follow it to create a “complete” work of art. B. Use photos, video, sound, and other media as needed to present the process you followed to your class. Answer their questions and write down any interesting feedback that you receive. How might this inform your next artwork?

A Layered Process