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Kavita Daswani

Dan Lam can put to rest any doubts as to whether a social media presence can launch the career of an artist.
In 2015, the Vietnamese-American artist was living in the small oil city of Midland, in the centre of the US state of Texas where “nothing was going on”, when she started posting photos of her work on Instagram.
“I would share something, and then a handful of other accounts would reshare it, and then someone commented on one of my posts that Miley Cyrus was following me,” Lam says.
“I was shocked that my work reached that far, how widespread it was, and whose eyes were on it. It was how most galleries found me.”

All of this was helped, of course, by Lam’s striking visual aesthetic.
Gloopy, drippy, trippy, technicolour sculptures in polyurethane foam treated with resin and acrylic are her stock-in-trade – including a recent 15ft by 15ft (4.6 metre by 4.6 metre) installation she describes as “looking like a rainbow melting off a wall”.
Born in the Philippines to Vietnamese parents, Lam and her family moved to Houston, Texas when she was a baby. At eight, they relocated to another Texan city, Dallas.
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Lam recalls being creative since she was a child. “Those seeds have always been there.”
Much of that, she says, has been shaped by her exposure to American television.
“I was a ’90s kid, and a huge part of my after-school activities involved watching Nickelodeon,” she says of the US cable channel for children.
“I definitely see the influences in my work from that time. I had a ton of toys and sometimes when I’m in the studio creating and experimenting, I’ll have this moment when I connect back to my childhood, a recognition that a gallery piece looks like my [old] Polly Pocket,” she says, referencing the discontinued toy line.
“None of that is conscious, but it does make its way into my work.”

She sees now that there is also a part of her that subconsciously wanted to counteract the more low-key aspects of her heritage.
“Asians tend to be more reserved as people, and perhaps this expression of brightness, boldness and loudness in my work is a by-product of that.”
An only child, her decision to go to art school riled her mother.
“It was a huge point of contention between us,” she says.
“I wanted to study the arts, but my mother felt that that wouldn’t be stable, so we compromised. I agreed to get a degree in graphic design. She figured it was still creative, and I would be guaranteed to get a job. But once I started the programme, I knew it wasn’t right for me.”

She wanted art to be a form of her own personal expression.
“But the graphic design was not that. It was about catering to a client. I was at odds with it. It didn’t fit, it didn’t feel right. I had this gut instinct moment and I told my mom and she was not happy.
“We got into big fights. She thought I was lazy and wanted to take the easy path. But going into fine arts is not an easy path. It’s the least secure path. But I couldn’t not do it.”
As it turns out, Lam’s mother didn’t have to worry too much. After Lam graduated with a master’s in fine arts from Arizona State University, she moved to Midland, worked a little Instagram magic, and created a growing following of more than 480,000 and a steady career.
I worked on a huge wall and now I’m working on something tiny. There’s something really fun about shifting scale like that
Dan Lam
Within a year, she was receiving commissions for her work.
“Now that I’ve had several years to see the evolution of my art, there is a clear lineage of how these things have evolved,” she says.
“I’ve always been drawn to bright and bold colours, but aesthetically the work shifts because it’s reflecting a process or ideas I’m interested in. I look to nature a lot for visual inspiration.”

Currently living in Dallas, Lam says that after having dipped her toe in a couple of European spots for gallery shows, she would love to show more of her work internationally.
“As far as what my work would look like, different mediums would be a part of it – I want to continue working on a big scale. Every time I do something bigger it pushes the boundary of what’s possible.”
Still, there is a practical side to her. In June, Lam will release her much-anticipated series of miniatures – basically palm-sized versions of her much larger sculptures and installations.
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It’s an annual initiative for her: she sells them through her website for between US$150 and US$650 and ships them all over the world.
“I worked on a huge wall and now I’m working on something tiny. There’s something really fun about shifting scale like that,” she says.
After that, she will prepare for a solo show in Portland, in the US state of Oregon, in July, and another in New York in December.

Whether sought after by avid collectors – her larger pieces sell for between US$20,000 and US$40,000 – or the subject of fascination by curious gallery-goers, Lam says her hope is that her work will continue to inspire intrigue.
“When people see my work, I want it to spark curiosity,” she says. “I want people to wonder what it is, what it’s made of and want to know more about it.”


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Miley Cyrus follows her: Dan Lam, Vietnamese-American artist whose drippy, trippy sculptures can sell for up to US$40,000 a piece

Vietnamese-American artist Dan Lam with some of her trippy sculptures that have helped her become an Instagram sensation. Photo: Tyler Baimbridge

A piece from Lam’s “Taste the Rainbow” project.

Pieces in Lam’s “Beyond Reality” exhibition.

Lam works on a new piece. Photo: Benjamin Youd

A piece from Lam’s “Bad Guy” project.

Lam saw her fame grow thanks to social media. Photo: Justin Clemons

From a Mirror member’s no-show at JJ Lin concert to a Banksy painting court case, 5 juicy bits of drama that flared up during Hong Kong Arts Month

“Gravity”, a large-scale installation by Los Angeles-based conceptual artist Awol Erizku, is exhibited at the Pacific Place shopping mall in Admiralty, Hong Kong. Copies of the artwork were later found for sale on Chinese online shopping platform Taobao. Photo: Sam Tsang

Jakub Hrusa, chief conductor of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. Photo: Bamberg Symphony Orchestra

Banksy’s “Show Me The Monet”, the subject of a High Court writ in Hong Kong, at Sotheby’s auction house in London on September 18, 2020. Photo: AFP

From Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat to Kaws and Aiko, a history of street art in exhibition at Hong Kong mall

“Mr. Lucky” (2019) by Los Angeles street artist Chaz Bojórquez, on show in “City as Studio” in Hong Kong, was made using a vintage stencil from 1969. Photo: K11 Musea

The “City as Studio” exhibition of street art at the K11 Musea mall in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. Photo: K11 Musea

“Untitled” (1983) by Keith Haring and LA II, on show in Hong Kong. Photo: Adam Reich

Art dealer Jeffrey Deitch curated “City as Studio” at K11 Musea. Photo: K11 Musea

Some of the street art on show in “City as Studio” at K11 Musea. Photo: K11 Musea

“Mr. Lucky” (2019) by Chaz Bojórquez was made using a vintage stencil from 1969. Photo: K11 Musea

Japanese artist Aiko in front of her work “Kiss” (2017). Photo: K11 Musea

Japanese artist Aiko’s outdoor mural at K11 Musea. Photo: K11 Musea

“Untitled (Nicole Miller)” (1996) by Kaws. Photo: Farzad Owrang

‘Food connects us more than art’: the Asian contemporary artists telling stories through cooking

Bolohope, a show featuring food by Boloho, an artists’ collective based in Guangzhou, southern China, at Hanart TZ Gallery in Kwai Chung, Hong Kong. Photo: RingoTang

Tina Girouard, Carol Goodden, and Gordon Matta-Clark outside Food restaurant before its opening in SoHo, Manthattan, in 1971. Photo: Richard Landry/The Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark

Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija’s “untitled (pad thai)” at the Paula Allen Gallery, New York, in 1990. Photo: Paula Allen Gallery/Rirkrit Tiravanija

Artist Samantha Lui, the creator of “Wendy’s Wok World”. Photo: Samantha Lui

Samantha Lui, who hopes to take her “Wendy’s Wok World” to the United States. Photo: Samantha Lui

Boloho’s exhibition “Bolohope” at the Hanart TZ Gallery in Hong Kong. Photo: Kitmin Lee/courtesy of the artists and Hanart TZ Gallery

Boloho’s installation at Documenta 15 in Kassel, Germany, in 2022. Photo: courtesy of the artists

“Forever 18 Kitchen” at Boloho’s space in Guangzhou. Photo: courtesy of the artists

Lifestyle

Arts & Culture

Lam’s striking technicolour sculptures are influenced by ’90s children’s television and a wish to counteract the more reserved aspects of her heritage
She has nearly half a million followers on Instagram and is preparing for a solo show in Portland in July, and another in New York in December


Vietnamese-American artist Dan Lam’s striking technicolour sculptures can sell for up to US$40,000 and she has nearly half a million followers on Instagram, including Miley Cyrus.


Miley Cyrus follows her: Dan Lam, Vietnamese-American artist whose drippy, trippy sculptures can sell for up to US$40,000 a piece

Lam’s striking technicolour sculptures are influenced by ’90s children’s television and a wish to counteract the more reserved aspects of her heritage She has nearly half a million followers on Instagram and is preparing for a solo show in Portland in July, and another in New York in December