Daniel Arsham’s eroded relics are rooted in classical sculpture
The New York-based artist turns back time for an exhibition of crystallised busts, friezes and sculptures at Galerie Perrotin in Paris

For almost 15 years, American artist Daniel Arsham has recreated iconic cultural items from the 20th and 21st centuries, inviting audiences to see these commodities anew. Using his signature technique, he’s crystallised everything from Walkman cassette players and Sony headphones to Polaroid cameras, Smeg refrigerators and Nike classics.
Such artefacts are recast and reframed, often presented as partially eroded ‘future relics’ that reflect how our culture might be historicised by generations to come. For his current exhibition at Galerie Perrotin in Paris, however, Arsham has stepped back even further into history, leaving behind current and recent cultural movements in favour of those from the 7th century BC up until the early 1800s.
‘The idea to work with sculptures from classical antiquity came two years ago when I was in Paris preparing for a project with a museum,’ the New York-based artist explains. ‘I have always been interested in the way that objects move through time, but this is the first time I’m working with classical and ancient objects.’ To that end, the exhibition at Perrotin includes a series of large-scale busts, friezes and sculptures cast from the originals.
Installation view of ‘Paris, 3020’ at Perrotin. © The artist. Courtesy of Perrotin
We see Michelangelo’s Moses rendered in blue calcite and hydrostone, eroding near his thighs, chest and head. Alexandros of Antioch’s Venus de Milo, realised in white calcite, hews closely to the original – albeit with areas of her head, torso and right knee apparently weathering away. To create these works, Arsham was granted unprecedented access to the Réunion des Musées Nationaux – Grand Palais (RMN), a 200-year-old moulding studio that reproduces masterpieces for several major museums throughout Europe.
RELATED STORY
‘The RMN has a selection which includes thousands of moulds of works from antiquity to the Renaissance to neoclassical works,’ says the artist. Arsham sorted through these moulds and selected pieces to reform, a decision often based on two things: ‘one, the kind of historical context around some of these pieces and, two, around the works that were most visually iconic’. Finally, he ensured the pieces would work with his process, which involved recreating them in crystal, volcanic ash and ‘other materials that we associate with the geological time scale’.
The sculptures are presented on pristine plinths, illuminated from underneath by white fluorescent light. Sleek and cool, they are a stark reminder of where we’re standing: not in the Louvre or Acropolis Museum or the Kunsthistorisches Museum, but rather in a contemporary art gallery. The works here could easily be from the past, present or future, a confusion of time that is inherent to Arsham’s work. And just because the source material has changed doesn’t mean his artistic approach has become any different.
‘In general, I like try to create scenarios that allow these works to float in time,’ adds the artist. ‘I treated these [ancient] objects the same way that I would treat an Apple computer or a Jordan sneaker – objects that we associate with a particular era in history. And therefore, these objects can become useful in my project to confuse that history.’
Looking forward, we can expect to see more from the past. ‘I certainly will be engaging further with many of these objects,’ Arsham says. ‘There's a vast trove of moulds of these works that I now have access to, and the project is just beginning.’
Daniel Arsham in his New York studio. © The artist. Courtesy of Perrotin
Blue Calcite Eroded Lucius Verus, 2019, by Daniel Arsham, blue calcite, hydrostone.
Rose Quartz Eroded Athena Helmeted, 2019, by Daniel Arsham, pink selenite, quartz, hydrostone.
Installation view of ‘Paris, 3020’ at Perrotin. © The artist. Courtesy of Perrotin
Installation view of ‘Paris, 3020’ at Perrotin. © The artist. Courtesy of Perrotin
Installation view of ‘Paris, 3020’ at Perrotin. © The artist. Courtesy of Perrotin
Blue Calcite Eroded Moses (detail) 2019, by Daniel Arsham, blue calcite, hydrostone. © The artist. Courtesy of Perrotin
Grey Selenite Eroded Aphrodite or Kore with a bird, 2019, by Daniel Arsham, selenite, quartz, hydrostone.
Installation view of ‘Paris, 3020’ at Perrotin. © The artist. Courtesy of Perrotin
Rose Quartz Eroded Hamadryade, 2019, by Daniel Arsham, pink selenite, quartz, hydrostone. © The artist. Courtesy of Perrotin
INFORMATION
‘Paris, 3020’, 11 January – 21 March, Perrotin. perrotin.com; danielarsham.com
ADDRESS
Perrotin
76 rue de Turenne
75003 Paris
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
Remembering X-girl’s notorious 1994 fashion show, which starred a pre-fame Chloë Sevigny
A new book by Angela Hill, ‘X-girl Show’ – featuring an introduction by Chloë Sevigny – documents the cult label’s renegade 1990s fashion show, which took place in New York and captured a changing underground look
-
How to spot a fake Lamborghini: inside the sports car manufacturer’s Polo Storico division
Fake or fortune? We talk to the team of Lamborghini experts who can spot a priceless classic from a phoney
-
Meet The Good Plastic Company, rethinking the way we use plastic
This creatively responsible brand supplied, and recycled, the plastic plinths used in Wallpaper’s Milan Design Week exhibition. Here’s how it is reimagining the use and reuse of the contentious material
-
‘With a small gesture of buying a postcard, we all become copyists’: the Louvre’s celebration of copying speaks to human nature
Contemporary artists are invited to copy works from the Louvre in a celebration of the copyist’s art, a collaboration with Centre Pompidou-Metz
-
Wolfgang Tillmans brings a performative edge to bibliophilia at the Centre Pompidou’s library
As the Centre Pompidou’s library is emptied ahead of the venue’s five-year restoration, the German photographer moves in for a final fling of a Paris exhibition
-
What is recycling good for, asks Mika Rottenberg at Hauser & Wirth Menorca
US-based artist Mika Rottenberg rethinks the possibilities of rubbish in a colourful exhibition, spanning films, drawings and eerily anthropomorphic lamps
-
A song for the dead – Josh Homme on performing for six million souls in the bowels of the Paris Catacombs
A rock band, a brush with death and an underground tomb coalesce in haunting new Queens of the Stone Age film, ‘Alive in the Catacombs’. Wallpaper* meets frontman Josh Homme and director Thomas Rames
-
San Francisco’s controversial monument, the Vaillancourt Fountain, could be facing demolition
The brutalist fountain is conspicuously absent from renders showing a redeveloped Embarcadero Plaza and people are unhappy about it, including the structure’s 95-year-old designer
-
See the fruits of Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely's creative and romantic union at Hauser & Wirth Somerset
An intimate exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Somerset explores three decades of a creative partnership
-
The glory years of the Cannes Film Festival are captured in a new photo book
‘Cannes’ by Derek Ridgers looks back on the photographer's time at the Cannes Film Festival between 1984 and 1996
-
Technology, art and sculptures of fog: LUMA Arles kicks off the 2025/26 season
Three different exhibitions at LUMA Arles, in France, delve into history in a celebration of all mediums; Amy Serafin went to explore