Following a period in which urban landscapes were a recurring theme in her work, Karin van Dam became fascinated by natural structures. After an unforgettable journey across Canada, this found expression in sketches and ideas. The environment in which a work is created plays an important role in the development of the work.
Animal skin and fish scales served as inspiration for this sample. In the design process, Van Dam often does not know in advance what she will use the individual elements for. Metallic scales were created during the development of this sample. By assembling the knitted pieces in a certain way, the sample’s basic shape is not organic but appears almost architectural.
Artist Karin van Dam (1959) is known for creating installations made with materials such as boat fenders, rope and insulation pipes. She sees her installations as spatial drawings through which viewers can walk. Indeed, the installations always start out as small drawings. Here too she often integrates spatial objects such as rubber caps, rope and wooden sticks. Urban structures and street patterns are an important source of inspiration, which she then translates freely and intuitively, guided by the possibilities that the chosen materials and objects offer her.
