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Nick “Ikarus” Tam is a legend of the Ōtautahi graffiti scene. Something from Nothing is his exhibition at New Plymouth’s Koru on Devon Gallery. His pieces are intricately detailed builds of grimy, graffitied urban environments made from repurposed everyday materials.
Graffiti artist Nick “Ikarus” Tam made sure to hold on to the sauce packet from the Chinese meal he had for lunch as he was sure he’d use it for something.
It’s this foraging mentality that brought about his first solo exhibition, Something from Nothing, on at Koru on Devon in New Plymouth from December 8 to January 8.
Straws, matchsticks, mesh, pill boxes, photo frames, asthma containers, lids off toothpaste have all been utilised to build fourteen 3D dioramas of intricately detailed grimy, graffitied urban environments which sell for between $500 and $5000.
One diorama is a mini exhibition within the exhibition titled fear.
“Because I was f…..g fearful”.
Tam, from Ōtautahi Christchurch, is part of a graffiti crew called DTR.
This is his first solo exhibition, and he said he was scared because he was used to hiding behind a group.
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Tam also comes to the region to do workshops with troubled youth at START Taranaki.
But he knew this was something he had to do.
“The only reason that I wouldn’t do it is because I was scared.
“I couldn’t waste the opportunity and I had heaps of fun making it.”
Fay Looney, founder of Koru on Devon, approached Tam to put on the exhibition after a friend purchased one of his dioramas from a group show in Christchurch.
It’s not his first time in Taranaki though.
For the last three years, Tam has been working with START Taranaki, a programme for troubled young people.
He runs art workshops to try and help them find a creative outlet.
“It’s about channelling that creative energy in a different direction to vandalism.
“I want to show them you can create a career from the things that you love, I didn’t realise that when I was young.”
It was important for kids to see people who came from the same background and the same struggles as they did, Tam said.
Tam said he grew up pretty poor with his parents working multiple jobs.
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Tam uses the likes of matchsticks and boxes, empty pill boxes, and straws to create the pieces, which sell for between $500 and $5000.
He could see they were busy, yet still poor and unhappy, and so he grew up hating the idea of work.
Like a lot of graffiti artists, Tam started out writing his name on any surface he could find.
“Then I got a few commission jobs here and there.
“Initially it was just funny to me, I was just a vandal that people were paying money to do work.”
Tam said when he was young he thought he’d end up in jail or a gang.
But thanks to some friends doing well, which unleashed his competitive side, he was able to avoid that path.
Although he has been arrested countless times for graffiti, he said.
“There’s not a lot of sanctioned places to practise.
“I was a shitty little tagger kid who had no goals or ideas and have ended up turning it into an arguably successful art career.”