Commissioned by RAMM, ‘Specimens from an Imaginary Voyage’ is the work of Danish glass artist, Steffen Dam.
Dam took his inspiration from the collection of starfish and sea urchins in RAMM’s Sladen’s Study gallery. He created glass jars containing imaginary sea forms made from glass.
Later, Dam’s early works take the form of flat panels. They are like the illustrations in the natural history books his grandfather introduced him to as a child. His works seem to show two-dimensional natural forms captured between glass, however, this is an illusion of reality. The blown-glass plants and creatures he creates are not scientific replicas of anything found in nature. They come from Dam’s own biological universe.
Dam learned to cast glass, opening up many new possibilities. He created marine life jars where coloured sea forms appear suspended within the confines of a glass cylinder. The work seduces the viewer to believe in the reality of his pseudo-specimens.
The skills Dam acquired as an apprentice and practicing tool maker were invaluable. Exacting, meticulous, pre-planned and precise to a tenth of a millimetre, are all words that can be used to describe his work. However, he also embraces chance and works with the inherent properties of glass. In doing this, he is able to achieve incredible beauty through imperfection. Although usually forbidden in glass blowing, he introduces bubbles and flecks of dirt to his work. With this, he risks it being either stunning or catastrophic!
Dam is an artist of international acclaim and has works in museums and galleries all over the world.
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