Daniel Arsham, artist and one half of design duo Snarkitecture, has recently collaborated with the musician Pharrell Williams and the actor James Franco. That would suggest a number of things, not all of them good (he has also collaborated with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, following in the footsteps of Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, just by the way of other credentials). What it strongly suggests is that Arsham is having a moment.
London is proving especially receptive. Arsham screened 'Future Relic 02', his short film starring Franco as a sort of anti-archeologist of the future, at Chiltern Firehouse earlier this week; he is one of the artists featured in the just opened 'Post Pop: East Meets West' at the Saatchi Gallery; and the Pippy Houldsworth Gallery has given over its Heddon Street space to a single new installation by Arsham, entitled 'Bound Figure'.
Arsham often plays with expectations about what materials and the built environment should and shouldn't do. And in 'Bound Figure' we see a human form, a man looking at the shoes, shrouded in the gallery's white wall, trapped in the white cube; possibly forcing their way out, possibly being sucked in, possibly dreaming the whole thing up. More than a straight visual gag, it is expertly executed (the white wall becomes a white sheet convincingly) and unnerving.
Arsham soon moves onto Miami, where he was born, for a solo show at Locust Projects to coincide with Art Basel Miami.
In 'Bound Figure' we see a human form, a man looking at the shoes.
...and shrouded in the gallery's white wall
More than a straight visual gag, it is expertly executed (the white wall becomes a white sheet convincingly) and unnerving
ADDRESS
Pippy Houldsworth Gallery
6 Heddon Street
London W1B 4BT
-
Corner Corner may be London's most unique entertainment destination yetThe newly-opened venue combines food, jazz and—yes—urban farming beneath one sprawling roof
-
The Wallpaper* Design Issue comes with our Salone del Mobile must-seesThe May 2025 issue of Wallpaper* is on sale now, taking in Milan Design Week, the Venice Biennale, and a very stylish tea party
-
Aboard Gio Ponti's colourful Arlecchino train in Milan, a conversation about design with FormafantasmaThe design duo boards Gio Ponti’s train bound for the latest Prada Frames symposium at Milan Design Week
-
Daniel Arsham’s new monograph collates the works of the auto-obsessed American artist‘Arsham Motorsport’ is two volumes of inspiration, process and work, charting artist Daniel Arsham’s oeuvre inspired by the icons and forms of the automotive industry
-
Daniel Arsham debuts new work in Paris and New YorkDaniel Arsham and Perrotin mark 20 years of collaboration with New York and Paris exhibitions
-
Explore Daniel Arsham’s ‘Relics in the Landscape’ at Yorkshire Sculpture ParkDaniel Arsham’s exhibition of outdoor sculpture draws from three millennia of culture, from the Venus of Arles to Pikachu
-
Daniel Arsham’s eroded turntable pays homage to an iconic Rimowa caseArtist Daniel Arsham teams up with luggage label Rimowa for a sculptural ode to the brand’s Pilot Case, available in limited editions from 7 October
-
At home with Daniel ArshamSpeaking from New York, prolific pan-creative Daniel Arsham discusses dream collaborators, Star Wars, and advice for the next generation, and shares images of his work, travels and home on Long Island
-
Daniel Arsham designs limited-edition cover for Wallpaper’s 25th Anniversary IssueIn an epic limited-edition cover creation for our October 2021, 25th Anniversary Issue, artist Daniel Arsham has eroded the Wallpaper* masthead to mark the passage of time
-
Artist Daniel Arsham on loving cars, and eroding themWe speak to American artist Daniel Arsham about his deep-seated passion for supercars and the drive behind his exhibition of eroded automobiles in Detroit – including a Porsche930 Turbo and Ford Mustang GT
-
Daniel Arsham’s eroded relics are rooted in classical sculptureThe New York-based artist turns back time for an exhibition of crystallised busts, friezes and sculptures at Galerie Perrotin in Paris
