“Crystals grow over millennia, so is the work falling apart, or growing together?” (Daniel Arsham, quoted on Instagram, 24 September 2019, online)

With a noteworthy career spanning over a decade, New-York based artist Daniel Arsham has established a name for himself that exceeds any niche or discipline, touching each end of the art world spectrum. Through thought-provoking and eye-catching work, Arsham has masterminded a multidisciplinary practice that exists between art, architecture, and performance. Unpacking the world we live in through a range of media, the one thread that ties his work together is that of inevitability – namely that objects in the present reflect ideas from the past, and are destined to be transformed by the future. Renowned for reimagining objects of nostalgia into ‘Future Relics’— objects of the past that appear to have been unearthed from archaeological digs in the year 3019; Arsham also explores dichotomies between reality and fiction, as well as destruction and creation.

Showcasing the iconic Vogue magazine in his signature minimalist aesthetic— quartz crystals that seem to grow out of eroded surfaces on a clean matte background, the artist brings the humble domestic sized periodical into the realm of a massive fine sculpture. Rendered in his signature pale shades of monochrome blues, Arsham creates a work that marries the past and the future, in turn speculating on the fate of humanity through the exploration of space and light. Executed in 2019, the artist also pays homage to the passing of legendary architect I. M. Pei, his name carved in relief onto the lower left of the magazine cover of the magazine, immortalising him as part of an object that transcends time.

Arsham has been honoured with solo exhibitions around the world, including most recently at the HOW Art Museum, Shanghai (2019). The past couple of years have also seen Arsham exhibit at venues including Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (2019), as well as the Perrotin Gallery in New York (2018) and Tokyo (2018).