Kris Lamba (1984)
Kris Lamba was born in London in 1984. He creates large and small-scale sculpture, paintings and edition-based collectible design. Eschewing traditional media, he works with a variety of industrial biopolymers which he manipulates whilst still molten, often at extreme temperatures. Using a combination of force, gravity and a pioneering technique of polymer-stretching, he creates otherworldly forms; shapes that defy convention and echo the spontaneous and often violent moments of interstellar creation.
Lamba aims in part to remove the element of ‘self’ from the creative process. He therefore limits himself to the adjustment of certain parameters such as temperature, quantity, molecular weight and applied force. Then, using custom-designed machinery he pulls apart the molten material, selectively freezing and re-heating where necessary; the resulting shapes seemingly grown rather than made. After a period of consideration, the forms are refined and re-worked over a period of weeks and are either cast in bronze using the traditional ‘lost-wax’ method, or are finished in precious metals, pigment-rich paints and composite resin fabrics.
Creating work is an energetic process for Lamba, his pieces becoming expressions of a singularity; ideas forged though intense experimentation, later undergoing gradual stages of refinement and craftsmanship.
Originally a trained classical percussionist Lamba then went on to study contemporary design. His stretched and manipulated sculptures can be seen as a rebellion against the confines of working within tradition; their spontaneous forms defying and reworking traditional artistic practice.