On View - Daniel Arsham: 20 Years

Gallery September 29, 2023 Rozalia Jovanovic

Photo: Guillaume Ziccarelli. Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin.

Daniel Arsham, Veiled Crouching Venus B-LT , 2023. Fiberglass, Paint, Resin, Urethane. 42 x 60 x 30 inch.

In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the partnership between artist Daniel Arsham and Emmanuel Perrotin, the gallery has staged Daniel Arsham: 20 Years, two shows across its spaces in New York and Paris of the artist’s work.

Arsham is known for transforming our cultural icons into eroding artifacts, as though fast-forwarding to a time in the distant future when these objects—sculptures of Pikachu figures and the DeLorean from Back to the Future composed of sculpted volcanic ash and other geological materials—are all that will remain of our civilization. “I think that lends everything a visceral sense of time,” Arsham said in 2018 about his use of materials and process.

For this exhibition, which runs through October 14, 2023, Perrotin presents several new series, drawing on the artist’s evolving practice and his penchant for blending the past, present, and future to showcase the impact of nostalgia.

#1 - 2 Daniel Arsham. R2 - D2TM: Quartz CrystallizedFigure , 2023. Quartz, Selenite, Hydrostone. 48 x 42 1/16 x 42 1/16 inch.

Among the new works in this practice of eroded objects, Arsham will debut a collaboration with Star Wars, where he applies his techniques for eroding objects to the iconic fictional characters, such as C-3PO™ and R2-D2™, crafting them from materials like blue calcite, selenite and hydrostone.

About this process of fictional archaeology, Arsham told Art & Object in an earlier interview, "All of the pieces I’ve been making for the past few years related to fictional archeology are objects in a state of decay. It’s a post-apocalyptic scenario, but another way to read them is that it’s inevitable, right? Everything that exists today will become a relic—an archeological object—in the future. The idea of fictional archeology allows us to view those things with a perspective of time, to view them from some future era."

Daniel Arsham, Still Life with Bust of Deified Rome Blue, 2023. Acrylic on canvas. Framed: 75 1/2 x 63 1/2 inch.

Photographer: Guillaume Ziccarelli. Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin.

Photo: Guillaume Ziccarelli. Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin.

#11 Daniel Arsham. Amalgamized Bust of Veiled Woman, 2023. Stainless Steel, Patinated Bronze, Polished Bronze. 39 3/8 x 19 3/8 x 21 7/8 inch.

Photo: Guillaume Ziccarelli. Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin.

Daniel Arsham, Fractured Idols II , 2023. Acrylic on canvas. Framed : 43 1/2 x 39 1/2
inch.

Photo: Guillaume Ziccarelli. Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin.

Daniel Arsham, Vehicle Assembly Performance , 2023. Steel, Fiberglass. 170 x 71 x 53 inch.

Photo: Guillaume Ziccarelli. Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin.

#30 Daniel Arsham. Veiled Crouching Venus B-LT , 2023. Fiberglass, Paint, Resin, Urethane. 42 x 60 x 30 inch.

Photo: Guillaume Ziccarelli. Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin.

Daniel Arsham, The Four Seasons Vancouver: Study for Eroded Bust of Venus of Arles, 2023. Graphite on paper. 8 7/8 x 6 1/8 inch.

Photo: Guillaume Ziccarelli. Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin.

Daniel Arsham. Valley of the Sublime, Stubaital , 2023. Acrylic on canvas. Framed: 83 1/2 x 203 1/2 inch.

Photo: Guillaume Ziccarelli. Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin.

Installation view of ‘20 Years’ by Daniel Arsham. Perrotin New York, 2023.

Arsham's fascination with cars as an element of his practice over the course of his career will also be explored. In New York, over the course of the exhibition, Arsham will stage a live performance in which a mechanic will build a car, daily, piece by piece.

Photographer: Guillaume Ziccarelli. Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin.

Daniel Arsham, Stratified Venus of Milo, 2023. Patinated Bronze, Polished Bronze. 85 1/16 x 28 1/8 x 26 7/16 inch.

“There is repetition and seriality here in the same way that [Andy] Warhol multiplied everything from Marilyn to Brillo while Arsham focuses on Rolexes and Porsches,” wrote Patrick Moore, director of the Andy Warhol Museum and curator, about Arsham timed with this exhibition. “With both artists, the strategy serves to magnify the brand and also critique the empty promises of all material possessions. The obsessive drawings, paintings and sculptures of Porsches that feature so prominently in Arsham’s upcoming exhibitions have been “ruined” in the sense that their coveted, pristine surfaces are defiled and therefore made more beautiful through the artist’s interventions.”

The exhibition also includes an expansion of his Classical Antiquity sculptures, which were created when he was given access to statuary molds at the Réunion des Musées Nationaux Grand Palais, which included a mold of the beloved Venus de Milo.

"I make things that I truly want to see exist in the world," said Arsham, "and I hope that brings introspection and joy to others.”

About the Author

Rozalia Jovanovic

Rozalia Jovanovic is a writer and editor born and raised in New York who has covered the art world for nearly a decade. She has been the Editor-in-Chief of artnet News and digital director of Galerie magazine. A MacDowell fellow, Rozalia studied art history and communications at the University of Pennsylvania and received an MFA in fiction from Columbia University.