Donte Rowe
ARS 402
Isak Berbic
Critical Response: “Daniel Arsham: Materials and Process”
Daniel Arsham is an American artist born on September 8,1980 in Cleveland, Ohio and currently resides in New York City.However, Arsham was raised in Miami,Florida. He has appeared in over 60 exhibitions over the past two decades, and also received his BFA from Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. He did this shortly after creating Snarkitecture, with the collaborating effort of Alex Mustonen. Snarkitecture was made through the connection of art and architecture, and has been an on-going project for Arsham since 2007. He is an artist that I have been following for a couple years now, as his contemporary style & ability to connect streetwear/fashion to his artwork continues to break down barriers in art and architecture. His usage of pyrite, crystals, plaster, and many other products are the materials that make his sculpt work unique. Plaster is used to create his pieces along with his unique use of degradation and erosion on the pieces to show aging and create a whole new look to his work. Arsham varies his pieces from human body parts to full sided functional vehicles and has collabed with major brands such as Dior, Pharrell Williams, and Adidas.
As for how his work drew me to him, I am an avid fan of streetwear and art so when I saw his work I immediately was able to resonate with some of his pieces and I fell in love with them. I’m also a huge fan of ancient greek statue sculpt work, and sure enough he has a strong foundation with the use of the pyrite and erosion. He’s made many versions of his own greek mythological work in a series called, “Static Mythologies” where he creates a perfect human sculpture, and erodes the material to make it appear as if it were created in the olden days. The iconic “Chicago Bulls Basketball Jacket” he made from pulverized quartz will live on forever, as he uses the same methodologies as we have done in ARS 366. He creates casts and has the ability to immortalize pieces that will stand the test of time. The approach to using a Chicago bulls jacket and eroding it serves a deeper message, as the jacket is from 1991, so it is ancient to the new generation, however, not so much to those born in that era.
As for the location of Arsham’s work, many pieces are freestanding and have been placed in installations, public settings as well as site specific locations. He has dabbled into all forms of presenting his work and has even created pieces in the virtual world. His collaboration with Pokeymon on his instagram shows his eroded Pikachu sculpture in a virtual cartoon setting with Pikachu.The skill and ability to do this is not one that many artists possess . To me, his artwork speaks to the masses, as he uses so many different subjects to connect with his fans, growing his following more and more. His collaborations have dipped into the fashion industry, the gaming industry, the music industry, the car industry, his work ethic is endless and extends to audiences.
From the perspective of his architectural work, many of his pieces add a sense of realism while also creating the abstract, and this void that you can’t stop looking at. His use of movement as an incorporation of a still item such as a wall leaves his audience in a sense of awe. Furthermore, his scale, medium, and site selection always flow together perfectly. The combination of plaster, lighting, building architecture research and use of positive and negative space give him the ability to create works that are embedded into the wall, allowing them to stand alone giving the illusion of defying gravity. In addition, his collaborations with performance artists also add value to the performance by the movement of the performers collaborating with their medium to further their message.
From an archaeological perspective , his usage of crushed volcanic ash, crushed crystal, etc. are strategic, in the sense that these are materials we think of when we refer back to antique objects. When distilling an idea or object’s lifespan, Arsham uses universally known objects in his efforts to make them timeless. The methodology of discovering archaeological findings, goes hand in hand with the iconicity of the finding, which is what makes his work so intriguing. I believe every generation has an artist like Daniel, one who creates work to show the next generations the breakthrough innovations of the past behind them.
History and artwork effortlessly go hand-in-hand and research is an important technique needed to infuse the two. The thought process of re-creating pieces to immortalize them depend on the material to use such as copper have been used by Arsham to let some of his works age well in a durable form. Research and lab technologies are also required to drive the longevity of his pieces, he works with many scientists to constantly enhance the casting material used for his artwork.
Creating credibility is another thing that has driven Arsham’s success through the roof, as it has gotten him the casts of many famous pieces that he’s done. This concept of trust and credibility builds off the reputation of creating greatness. If you’re given the opportunity, failure and mistake are not an option. It manifests tension & pressure to which you must power through to uphold your reputation. If you aren’t able to produce this high-value result, your credibility accolade is stripped from you and deemed useless. This acquired trait is what separates those who are successful from those who let self doubt devour them and accept defeat.
Arsham speaks on one last important issue as he wraps up his public lecture, which is the struggles of being an artist, which is an important topic to speak on. Being as successful as he is, it’s the same as being a music artist; you have to keep impressing the fans with another hit to stay relevant. The advice that he gives is to not be overconfident, to also constantly create work on a regular basis, as well as keeping a balanced schedule in order to keep the other aspects of your life positive. I really enjoyed the talk and I’m looking forward to the next one. From his artwork, I feel inspired to create, and to become a master at whatever I put my effort into, as he does. His work allows me to expand my creative process and if I was given the chance to continue my project one, I would’ve casted one of my heads and installed crystallized quartz as he did as well as eroded it to mirror his technique in my self-portrait. Due to the natural outcome of the wax hands I created, it would’ve went with my aesthetic of me working on myself in all aspects as it serves as a double entendre: bettering my artistic approach and creativity, but also a representation of my current self molding my future self to the plastic surgeon I am aspiring to be. Daniel Arsham and ARS 366 are the two things that helped me find my art special calling, which is sculpting; working with material hands-on to create a piece that can act as a memorabilia that will live on forever!
References
“ABOUT.” DANIEL ARSHAM, www.danielarsham.com/about.
Arsham, D., 2020. Daniel Arsham : Materials And Process. [online] Youtube.com. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvLgSp6UBoM>
“ARSHAM STUDIO 3020 on Instagram: ‘Over the Past Year, I Have Had the Fortunate Opportunity to Work with the @Pokemon Company and the Animators from Their Studio. As the…”.” Instagram, www.instagram.com/p/B-ubnozgrew/.
“Daniel Arsham.” 304 Artworks, Bio & Shows on Artsy, www.artsy.net/artist/daniel-arsham.
Mandos, Galerie Ron. “Static Mythologies – Daniel Arsham.” Amsterdam Art, Feb. 16AD, www.amsterdamart.com/events/771/static-mythologies-daniel-arsham.