ICONS ONLY

In Bridgehampton, artist Daniel Arsham finds his groove within a rectilinear home designed by Jack Ceglic

- HANNAH MARTIN

When he's out in Bridgehampton, New York, about once a week the artist Daniel Arsham tends to his Zen garden first thing in the morning. "I rake left to right, creating waves around the impediments-the mounds of moss planted with trees, the rocks, the sculpture," he says, explaining a ritual he learned from monks in Kyoto. "One of the beautiful things about these gardens-some of which have existed for hundreds of yearsis that they are actually remade every day."

It's an idea Arsham often contemplates in his work, painstakingly remaking icons from past and present-a Porsche, a Pokémon character, a bust of Apollo-in a way that strips them of their time and place. Consider Bronze Eroded Bust of Melpomene, the sculpture that emerges from that garden. It's one of many artworks Arsham has created using the Louvre's mold library. The original sits in the Paris museum's sculpture courtyard, but in Arsham's riff, with an oxidized bronze patina, and crystallization along her collarbone, she looks futuristic and ancient all at once.

Lately, the icon in question is a house. "I was looking for a special property with an incredible backstory that had potential for creating something new," explains Arsham, who found his answer in an unconventional postmodern compound, built in 2009 by Jack Ceglic, best known for creating the minimalist look of 1970s-era Dean & DeLuca. "It's really orthogonal," Arsham admits, of the two structures, clad entirely in prefabricated enameled-steel paneling. But he thrilled at the archeological elements of the project-bringing this relic of the recent past back to its former glory, while carving out living, working, and garage space for himself, and, at the moment of our conversation, his eight Porsches.