A Fictional Artefact

New york-based artist Daniel Arsham’s art is coveted. His collaborations? Even more so. His latest with Tiffany & Co. Has been eagerly anticipated, simply because it melds the fields of sculpture and jewellery so perfectly

- Caroline Suganda

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.