Preview VALLEY OF DOLLS – Eric van Straaten

On September 9th four of today‘s most exciting and wellestablished doll-designers will  display their newest creations in the course of our upcoming group show titled Valley of Dolls. Eric van Straaten is one of the artists who participates the upcoming show:

“Princess Owl” and “Princess Porcupine”

“After working for years in wax and resin, for the last year I’ve been working extensively on digital sculptures, which are then ‘materialized’ with the technique called ‘rapid manufacturing’. For me, the 3D-printing technique gives me a limitless freedom in almost instantly composing the imagesI have in my mind.

“Bambitaur”

3D PRINTING: NOT JUST A PUSH OF A BUTTON
My statues are manufactured with a so-called 3D-printer. This seems very easy: just press the print button, and moments later the statue is finished. In reality the technique is more complicated than that.
The technique of 3D-printing in color is so new, that there is no ‘standardization’ whatsoever, especially in the colors used. The technique is still in development, the machines used are only made by one manufacturer (all other printing techniques can only use monochrome materials), and after the printing itself, there is an extensive treatment to make the model dust-free and to impregnate it to make it stronger and resistant to UV-light.

 “Diana” and “Princes Hamster”

So even for very experienced technicians, every time a model is printed, it’s like a first, even if the same model was printed successful in the past. It is virtually impossible to print a model in one time and even successful models always contain (minor) flaws. When these errors are too big, a model may have to be printed several times to achieve the desired result, which in turn causes delays.”

       “Cheercake”
Have a look at the exhibition on September 9th, vernissage starts at 7pm!