It’s Confusion Guided by a Clear Sense of Purpose: Works by Daniel Arsham by Erin Dziedzic
The title is from a quote from Gordon Matta-Clark.
Daniel Arsham, b. 1980 in Cleveland, OH, lives and works in New York, NY
Daniel Arsham’s large etching-like, gouache on Mylar drawings were shown in 2009, in an exhibition called Hotel Paradies at the 2nd Athens Biennale in Athens, Greece. The curator, Nadja Argyropoulou, chose works that explored the dark tensions of desire manifested in the spaces caught between the present and the afterlife. Hotel Paradies was one of six exhibitions that were autonomously developed by the curators, that together contemplated themes associated with HEAVEN. Arsham’s monochromatic, painted landscape tableaux are punctuated by architectural components that often bisect the picture plane and interrupt the composition. He continues to explore the presence and the erasure of architectural components in an extremely interdisciplinary practice that includes painting, drawing, sculpture, and performance. Interestingly, the addition, subtraction, erosion, and stretching of these architectural elements yield a cohesive force that permeates throughout the various media Ashram employs. The following is a series of images that provide a brief glimpse at the trajectory of architectural presence woven throughout Arsham’s multi-media and multi-disciplinary contemporary art practice.
Daniel Arsham, Smoke (black), 2007, Gouache on mylar, frame, 132,5 x 107 x 4 cm / 52 1/4 x 42 1/4 x 1 1/2 inches. Courtesy Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong & Paris. This work was exhibited in 2009 at the 2nd Athens Biennale in Athens, Greece.
Daniel Arsham, Monolith (Green), 2007, Gouache on mylar, frame, 107 x 85,5 x 4 cm / 42 1/4 x 33 3/4 x 1 1/2 inches. Courtesy Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong & Paris. This work was exhibited in 2009 at the 2nd Athens Biennale in Athens, Greece.
View of the exhibition Daniel Arsham STORM, Galerie Perrotin, Paris, 3 November – 22 December 2012. Square Out of the Moon, 2012, Gouache on mylar, frame, 64 1/2 x 64 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches. Moon Slice, 2012, Gouache on mylar, frame, 40 3/4 x 43 1/4 x 1 1/2 inches. The X on the Moon, 2012, Gouache on mylar, frame, 64 1/4 x 64 1/4 x 2 1/2 inches. Photo by Guillaume Ziccarelli. Courtesy Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong & Paris
View of the exhibition Daniel Arsham STORM, Galerie Perrotin, Paris, 3 November – 22 December 2012. Sideways Clock, 2012, Clock, fiberglass, paint, joint compound, 54 inches x 6.5 feet x 5 1/2 in. Photo by Guillaume Ziccarelli. Courtesy Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong & Paris
View of the exhibition Daniel Arsham STORM, Galerie Perrotin, Paris, 3 November – 22 December 2012. Hiding Figure, 2012, Fiberglass,paint, joint compound, mannequin, fabric and shoe, 7.0 feet x 48 inches x 14 1/4 in. Photo by Guillaume Ziccarelli. Courtesy Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong & Paris
View of the exhibition Daniel Arsham STORM, Galerie Perrotin, Paris, 3 November – 22 December 2012. The Explorer, 2012, Glass, resin, 67 x 21 x 17 in. Photo by Guillaume Ziccarelli. Courtesy Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong & Paris
View of the exhibition Daniel Arsham “Reach Ruin”, The Fabric Workshop Museum, Philadelphia, USA (14 December 2012 – Mid-March 2013). Photo by Carlos Avendaño. Courtesy The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, USA & Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong & Paris
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