Daniel Arsham

There are some people in this world so full of talent, creativity, and the ability to do a fantastic job at everything they touch that you’re left awestruck by them. Daniel Arsham is one of those people. Born in Cleveland & raised in Miami, Arsham is now based in NYC.  Not only is his work amazing, but he’s super prolific… where to start? Sculpture, set design, painting, architecture, installation art… he’s collaborated with Merce Cunningham, Hedi Slimane,  & Jonah Bokaer, and is doing amazing work with the architect Alex Mustonen on their ongoing Snarkitecture project… it’s a bit much, really. From a  personal perspective I guess a good place to start would be the work that first caught my eye – his sculptures using broken glass and resin.

These sculptures caught my eye because, on an immediate level, they are attractive objects. That said, broken glass carries the implicit messages of destruction and violence, in contrast to the serenity of the figures and the inherent highbrow association of figurative sculpture in a fine art context. There’s a pretty obvious interplay there, but somehow the refinement of the sculptures themselves removes the dialogue of destruction vs. creation from the mix, a kind of cultural gloss on the unpleasantness of the world. When you realize this, of course, the gloss flips on itself and becomes a rather provocative emphasis.

There is much to be said about the rest of Arsham’s body of work, which he divides into two dimensions, three dimensions, four dimensions, and snarkitecture on his website. Personally, though, the pieces that resonate with me most are his two dimensional works. First off, the medium – gouache on mylar. We’re talking traditional cel animation media here. The filmic connotations aside, on a strictly visual level these works recall the more traditional fine art media of printing. Another fairly provocative juxtaposition, positioning content at odds with media. Enough of theoretical considerations, though – check out the work for yourself.

Through sculpture, drawing and performance, Arsham challenges our perceptions of physical space in order to make architecture perform the improbable. The surfaces of walls appear to melt, erode and ripple. Animals contemplate the emergence of floating shapes in nature. Sculptures from antiquity are infused with rigid, geometric forms.
– wikipedia

Overall I’m simply floored by the wealth of talent Arsham has at his disposal. That he’s also productive and working only highly visible projects doesn’t hurt, either. More of Arsham’s work can be seen on his website; I strongly encourage you to set aside some time to explore it.

Arsham is represented by Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin in Paris, RonMandos Gallery in Amsterdam and OHWOW in Los Angeles, California.