New York-based artist Daniel Arsham’s work is a beautiful juxtaposition of contradictions that not only dazzles the eye, but captures the pulse of the times. The 40-year-old, playing the role of a fictional archaeologist, brings a new perspective to the way we see everyday objects, by making items like an alarm clock or a radio appear as if they had been buried hundreds years ago. Imagine this: a household object is made to look like an eroded artifact that has been recently unearthed.
With a single thrust, the present, the past and the future mesh into one, creating a warped timeline that amuses and amazes people. Yet the whole presentation recontextualises contemporary objects through the lens of an imagined future, fabricated in monochrome colours simply because Arsham is colour-blind.
“My work imagines a contemporary object as if it were viewed from the future — as though we’ve [been] transported to the future and brought the object back. And this time dislocation creates a sort of paradox in the object itself. You have this thing that you know from your current era, but it looks old,” says Arsham.
This story is from the October 2021 edition of ELLE Singapore.
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This story is from the October 2021 edition of ELLE Singapore.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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