Architecture, dance set design, contemporary art, sculpture, interior design… Daniel Arsham is known as an all-round artist who enjoys exploring every creative sphere. Here’s a look back at his flourishing career, including his collaborations with the big names in luxury.
Born in 1980 in the United States, Daniel Arsham suffered the full force of the disasters caused by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. His family’s home in Miami was destroyed, a traumatic event that will remain engraved in his work forever. After studying design, he opened The House exhibition in Miami with several of his peers, before meeting Frenchman Emmanuel Perrotin in 2004.
The founder of the famous Perrotin art galleries included him in his exhibition space in Paris a year later, and then in his various galleries around the world. This collaboration, which has spanned two decades, has earned Daniel Arsham the right to be celebrated in a presentation at the Perrotin gallery in Paris’s third arrondissement at the end of 2023. Elsewhere, the artist is represented by Moran Bondaroff in Los Angeles, Pippy Houldsworth in London and Baro Galeria in Sao Paulo, and exhibits in the world’s leading museums.
It’s hard to sum up Daniel Arsham’s art in just a few lines because his work is so multi-faceted. The artist plays with shapes, volumes and space. His approach is one of fictional archaeology, where works in neutral tones seem to live forever. His sculptures are imbued with the past, but also intrude on contemporary art, like his concept of fossilising coins and decorating them with crystals, or freezing pop culture objects in time.
His eroded or pleated white walls, “Blue Calcite Eroded Venus of Milo” in 2019, “Future Relic 06 – Polaroid camera” in 2016, “Rose Quartz Eroded Guitar” in 2014, Grotto of Laocoön in 2022 are all well-known works by the artist.
As well as sculpture, design, video, painting, drawing and architecture, he has also worked on dance sets, for example with Merce Cunningham and Jonah Bokaer. He has also founded a film production company called Films of the Future.
Collaborations with the luxury and fashion worlds
From the outset, Daniel Arsham has worked with some of the biggest names in luxury. In 2005, Hedi Slimane, former artistic director of Dior, commissioned the artist to design the fitting rooms at the Dior Homme boutique in Los Angeles. A few years later, the polymath formed another partnership with Dior, under the aegis of artistic director Kim Jones, to design the spring/summer 2020 collection, the catwalk set design and revisit the brand’s logo.
With Rimowa, Daniel Arsham unveils a suitcase rooted in his world. The artist has also worked with Byredo, Porsche, Pharrell Williams and Adidas.
Recently, Daniel Arsham worked with Hublot to create a work of art, an obelisk made of quartz crystal that tells the time, and with Tiffany & Co, for a collection in tribute to Pokémon. And to highlight Moët & Chandon’s 280 years of existence, the artist has been chosen to design a limited edition collection of 85 bottles, as well as an exclusive work of art inspired by the stained glass windows signed by the painter Félix Gaudin, which adorn the cellar of the company’s estate in Epernay.
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Featured photo: Daniel Arsham © Moët & Chandon
