Nicolas Lawin is a contemporary artist who specializes in Tape Art. He has been a part of the Berlin artist collective “Tape That” since 2013. From an early age, he gained insights into the world of design through his artistically active parents. After completing an apprenticeship as a Design Technical Assistant and studying Communication Design, he realized that traditional graphic design wasn’t his calling. The rigid world of corporate identities and consumer-oriented sales concepts didn’t align with his vision of creativity. Just as his passion didn’t fit into the realm of advertising, initially, the medium of tape didn’t seem to fit into the art world.
However, it was precisely this medium that offered Nicolas Lawin the opportunity to fully express his creativity within the art scene. The challenges that come with using tape as a creative element to produce free art, which later would influence an entire movement through collaboration with the collective, became one of the most exciting experiences of his life. The potential of Tape Art as an unknown art form and the opportunity to make it more widely recognized intrigued him from the very beginning. Early on, Tape That set out to make adhesive tape a recognized artistic medium worldwide. The experiences from numerous international projects continue to inspire him. The international successes he achieved alongside his colleagues and friends from the collective range from various cultural exchange programs with the Goethe Institute and different German Embassies to organizing the largest international Tape Art exhibition, the Tape Art Convention. One of the most rewarding aspects of his work is being a part of this burgeoning movement.

Artistic Statement
 
The initial steps of using tape in an artistic manner evolved quite intuitively. It all began with depicting typography, which had intrigued me the most during my studies. This initial phase felt like a game of trial and error, exploring the material without guidance or advice from the scene. Since coming together at TAPE THAT, we’ve been able to share this evolution and the exploration of possibilities. The fascination then and now lies in pushing the boundaries of this medium’s application. While there are countless creative ways to use the material, there are also clear constraints that stem from the nature of tape.These constraints push me to find new paths. It’s an ongoing process to harmonize the ideas in my mind with the medium’s possibilities. Particularly when depicting gradients or curved forms, such as sketch lines or comic styles, I encounter the limitations of the color palette and material flexibility.It was precisely this allure of making tape appear as if it were painted that marked the beginning of my artistic journey. My initial artworks were executed in the style of comic illustrations, intentionally using the tape in a way that only upon close inspection would reveal the true nature of the material used.Over time, digital work with design programs has significantly influenced my artistic expression. The graphic language I had come to know through digital design increasingly found its way into my analog artworks. Often, my works undergo multiple digital planning stages, whether it’s creating portraits, executing three-dimensional black-and-white hatching, or designing plotter-cut graphics. The connection between digital inspiration and analog creation is an exhilarating process of creative unfoldment for me. Maximizing all possibilities while staying true to the material is a part of my passion.