Chris Tap (1973, Amsterdam) attended university where he studied economy and cultural anthropology, before he became a full time sculptor. In the last 12 years he developed his passion in an autodidact manner. Aside from studying anatomy Chris has spent a lot of time in Zoo's. with live models of big cats.

Helped by faith, Chris came across the rare opportunity at the Amsterdam Zoo Artis to see cats from the closest distance possible, when they were given an anesthetic for medical reasons.

 

Careful he measured up the big cats from every angle to the smallest details: the muscles, the bones, the eyes, the distance between the eyes, etc. He took a close look at a jaguar called ‘Inaja’.At Artis, the zoo of Amsterdam he came across an equal opportunity to study a huge male lion ‘Jan’.

Tap is fascinated mostly by cats. The power they posses, the flexibility and grand style in which they move. He is the second generation of artists in his family – his father Wim Tap is a well known artist in Holland as well.