Steffen Dam FOSSIL PANEL glass/metal 19 X 35 X 8 inches
Steffen Dam explores the chemistry of glass to make things that seem to resemble biological forms from the invisible world however they do not attempt to describe something real, rather they imply that they come from this source. His groups of glass objects are presented in the tradition of the Cabinet of Curiosities and Museum collections however the shapes that he captures in his glass are imagined and bear metaphorical reference to real biological forms. ’My aim is to describe the world as I see it. One could also say to describe what’s not tangible and understandable with our everyday senses. My cylinders contain nothing that exists in the ocean, my specimens are plausible but not from this world, my plants are only to be found in my compost heap, and my flowers are still unnamed.’ (Dam.2011) Pia Strandbygaard Bitner writes of his exhibition at Browse and Derby in 2011 ‘ He always works ‘with’ the glass in an attempt to lure out its inherent character, but the processing of it is very assured as he pulls, pinches, burns, drills, cuts and polishes the glass until it has exactly the desired shape, colour and size.’ The manner in which Strandbygaard Bitner describes Dam’s process as a series of actions performed in search of something that he recognises as complete reminds me of my own use of processes and the search for completeness. In Front , writing about the same exhibition Dam states that ‘It’s not fact, I’m not a scholar. But it’s a balance between fiction and reality. If the works becomes too real then it can become quite boring to look at. If its at the point where you don’t know exactly what it is, why it is and how it got there, then I’ve reached my goal’ he then goes on to state ‘I believe that art is an escape route. You look at it and you are wondering how and why; for that little while you are lost to the world around you. You are totally focussed on these things that you not understand’. Dam’s interest in the moments of ‘loss’ as experienced by his audience through their curiosity is something that I will come back to later, however how the work is received by its audience is of vital importance to me.
I visited a piece of Dam’s work at Exeter Museum. This work contained nine blocks of glass presented in a vertical grid, and suspended in a metal frame so you could peer through each piece of glass. Each block of glass contained the marks and scars of the glassmaking process, which delicately suggested networks of veins and fungus like bodies, and which drew me in to want to look closer. The piece was presented in a glass fronted recess at the base of a large white wall. The recess was dark and it was difficult to see the work however by pressing a switch to the side of the recess a timed light came on enabling me to see the work fully. As I looked ever closer, for what seemed like a very small amount of time, my attention was broken as the light went off. Repetitive pressing of the light switch alternating with looking became quite frustrating as I wanted to focus on looking fully. The experience of seeing Dam’s work, identifying with his use of process, the search through process for completeness and the performance of seeing led to new research. Dam’s work inspired me to explore what I could achieve through the chemical processes, and the performance of printing, involved in etching. I poured, dribbled, scratched and polished resists and chemicals over copper plates and printed them. I printed plates over plates to reveal imaginary images that looked like biological things.
suewyllie 