Arsham: Past Present Future

ARSHAM

past present future
a lookbook for Daniel Arsham



INSIDE

I. artistry
> color
> installations

II. interiors & events

> pop-ups
> retail

III. fashion industry

> Rimowa
> Adidas
> Kith
> Dior

New York based artist Daniel Arsham straddles the line between art, A
architecture, and performance. Architecture is a prevalent subject

throughout his work; erosion, altering landscapes, and immersing the
viewer in futuristic fragments of a home. His signature is a white and
powder blue crystallized aesthetic. Always iconic, most of the objects
that transform refer to the late 20th century or millennial era. While

the present, future, and past poetically collide in his haunted yet
playful visions between romanticism and pop art, Daniel Arsham also

experiments with the timelessness of certain symbols and gestures
across cultures. Arsham’s work has been shown at PS1 in New York,
Miami’s Contemporary Museum of Art, and The New Museum in New
York, among others. He has also become a driving force in the fashion

industry with notable collaborations from Adidas to Dior. More
recently, he has been appointed the new creative director for the
Cleveland Cavaliers. Continue to explore the world of Daniel Arsham.

A



I.
ARTIS

STRY



color
installations

"Color blindness doesn’t mean that I don’t see color. It
means that the range of color is drastically reduced…I had
never really thought about the idea that being color blind
is part of my work or anything like that, I just selected
these things – these works are white because the wall is
white. That basketball is that color because it’s made of
volcanic ash, it was more about the material quality."













“This work for me is not about progress.

It is about destruction and growth and where
they are able to meet in the middle.”

High Museum of Art

color
installations





The exhibition revolves around a trio of
installations that transform the interior
of the museum into a monumental
canvas.

I. A collection of cast objects from
arsham’s ‘fictional archaeology’ series
set in large hourglasses. Filling the
vessels were finely crushed crystals
that semi-conceal the articles within
— like a pair of hands, a face, and a
vintage camera. Sundays on the hour,
a young performer from Atlanta’s Glo
Dance Company ritualistically turned
the hourglasses to reveal their content.

II. Drawn from his personal interest in
Japanese cultures and communities,

visitors arrive at a monochromatic
blue zen garden, featuring a japanese

tea house, tatami mats, a petrified
tree and ornately raked sand. As the
performer turned the hourglasses, an
older male performance artist wearing

traditional japanese robes raked
patterns into the garden’s sand.

III. As seen on pages 7 and 8, the final
installation enticed visitors to enter a

deep purple cavern. It was meant to
evoke the appearance of an amethyst

with various sports balls to stay
consistent with Arsham’s theme of
transforming every day objects. Though
still maintaining his trademark structural
experimentation, historical inquiry and
satirical wit, this exhibition also marks
Arsham’s first major venture into color.





Gallery Perrotin,
Paris 3020

For his Paris 3020 exhibition,
Arsham worked with a
200-year-old French

modeling atelier, using molds
of masterpieces from Europe’s
major encyclopedic institutions
including the Musée du Louvre

where the original Jupiter
of Versailles is part of the

permanent collection.







New York

Moscow

“Could I take an object from today and cause it to
appear as if it was discovered in the future? Certainly
I could take an object and paint it to look old, but
there’s a truth about archeological objects that has
to do with their materiality....These objects physically
feel like they’re not from this era even though there’s
something that we know is from today, so that in some
ways the selection of material is as important as the
visual quality of degradation.”

SCAD MoA,
The Future was Then



II.

INTERIO
& EV

ORS
VENTS



pop-ups
retail

objects for living pop-up with gallery
Friedman Benda at Design Miami 2019

“The works often relate to shapes that would contrast with
the rigidity of the house....

‘Jaffe brought in curves in his later career and ran away
from these early, more modernist right-angle approach.

The furniture was made in contrast to that.”





“I’ve designed the
furniture, the lighting,
the architecture; whether
it’s this Smeg fridge or a
Bang & Olufsen speaker,
it’s about really filling out
this universe. Everything,
from the basketball hoop
that’s hanging on the
wall to a cream of tomato
soup with Heinz (along
with all the packaging
design), is located within
the future.”

Selfridge’s Corner Shop







pop-ups
retail

KITH Miami

Dior windows
2011 & 2020



FASHIO
IND