#itapedit

Artist Name: Dan Cunningham / ITAPEDIT *1984 Hometown: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada City: Toronto, Ontario, Canada When did I start: It started as a group activity when I had some friends over for drinks one night. I often work in film and television production and happened to have a stringer of coloured cloth tape from work at home with me. Eventually the idea to add strips to the wall and create patterns and designs was obvious! This was about 2013. Why tape: I’ve never been very good at visual art, especially drawing and painting, so I really didn’t experiment with any other materials because of that. After discovering the unique way tape can look and be manipulated on the wall, I started making smaller pieces on canvas or wood panel. I love the fact that you can create textures and patterns that can easily be rearranged and that tape isn’t strictly for flat surfaces, allowing me to create 3-dimentional art as well! Now I have about 75 rolls of tape of various materials! Inspiration: I’m inspired by my own photographs and experiences. I will often take a quick snapshot of something and then arrange it in a more abstract way for taping. In the end, the piece probably won’t resemble its original source material, but that doesn’t matter! I’ve also blindly sat and taped abstract pieces and really like the fragmented, strained glass look, but swapping into taping more realistic items or scenes is also a fun challenge. I love seeing other tape artists and their work on Instagram. Their demonstration of what is possible with tape keeps me on my toes and motivates me to start another one as soon as I finish something! Synonym for art: CONJUGATION – art creates links between people and the world around us Profession: I am not a full-time artist. I work as a freelancer in the arts, primarily in production and operations. From films, commercials and live music to festivals and theatre tours. I have really only been focussing on my art seriously for just over a year now. I am glad to be free to dedicate as much or as little time to it as I want! Quote: “There is no such thing as a weird human being. It's just that some people require more understanding than others” – Tom Robbins