Daniel Arsham's uchronic aesthetic revolves around his concept of fictional archaeology. Working in sculpture, architecture, drawing and film, he creates and crystallizes ambiguous in-between spaces or situations, and further stages what he refers to as "future relics of the present." These are eroded casts of modern artifacts and contemporary human figures, which he expertly creates from geological material such as sand, selenite, or volcanic ash, giving them the appearance of having just been unearthed after being buried for ages. Always iconic, most of the objects that he turns into stone refer to the late 20th century or millennial era, when technological obsolescence unprecedentedly accelerated along with the digital dematerialization of our world. While the present, the future, and the past poetically collide in his haunting yet playful vision 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, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Miami, The Athens Biennale in Athens, Greece, The New Museum in New York, Mills College Art Museum in Oakland, California and Carré d'Art de Nimes, France among others.
Bronze Eroded Venus de Milo, 2020
bronze, stainless steel
157.87 x 48.43 x 50.79 inches
401 x 123 x 129 cm
Edition 2 of 3
private collection