Daniel ARSHAM WWD

PRESSBOOK

Daniel ARSHAM WWD

June 2019

1/1 Kim Jones Taps Daniel Arsham to Design Dior Show Set BY JOELLE DIDERICH

JUNE 21, 2019

time, so it’s kind of important to have some ways new, but Warhol and a number things that can create a legacy for the of artists from the Sixties onward were brand further along the line,” he explained. already incorporating this idea of pop Arsham had worked with Dior on window culture and a wider group of objects into installations in 2011, but noted that was their body of work,” he remarked. under a different creative team. “One of “These brands are icons of a particular the things that has been great working with moment in time, and in all of my work Kim is really his deference to my work, and going back, I’ve always selected, you know, thinking about ways of staying true to it. a Leica camera, or a Jordan sneaker, or a He wants the audience to really experience Spalding basketball, and I’ve remade these what they might in an exhibition,” he said. things in these geological materials,” he The show space itself will be decked continued. “The selection of the object out in a pink color gradient that is another itself is in some ways as important as the recurring feature of Arsham’s work, and is visual quality of the work.” rooted in his color blindness. “If you look at Arsham noted that the concept of artist- the lineage of my work over the last 15 years, as-brand is not new. “This has been true it’s largely void of color up until maybe four for a long time, mostly for dead artists, so or five years ago, when I had this experience you could say that Van Gogh is a brand — with some lenses that partially correct my there are T-shirts and all kinds of things color vision,” he explained. around that universe. So I feel like you may In an echo of the weathered look of his as well engage with that audience while art works, the runway — dotted with giant we’re alive,” he said. eroded letters spelling out the name Dior Bringing his work to Paris always has a — will literally decompose during the show. special resonance for Arsham, whose wife “The floor of the space where the models is French and who has been with Perrotin will be walking is actually made of sand since 2003. that has a gradient from white to pink, and “Early on, when I started thinking about as they walk through it, they’ll disrupt the doing some of the collaborations with perfect gradient and they’ll leave this kind Adidas or any of the other brands, he was Daniel Arsham of trace in the ground,” Arsham explained. one of the ones who was not skeptical The artist said fashion collaborations about it, and I think understood the reach EXCLUSIVE have been central to his practice since he and the power in integrating people first worked with choreographer Merce who are outside the ‘art world’ into the Cunningham in 2006. “Part of his brief to practice,” Arsham said. Kim Jones Taps me, in the first stage work that I created He noted that not everyone is as for him, was all visual elements, which supportive of cross-pollination. included the physical stage design, the “In the art world, there’s a certain Daniel Arsham to lighting and the costumes — none of which segment of it that will never really feel I had ever done before,” he recalled. like any commercial aspect of an artist’s It’s also part of his daily life: at his studio work is relevant, and to some people, in Long Island City, Arsham and his team it probably disqualifies them from Design Dior Show Set wear a working uniform of white lab coats participating in a conceptual dialogue and other items specially made for them around what it means to make art today, ● Arsham discusses his close ties with artists such as Jake and Dinos Chapman, by Kith designer Ronnie Fieg and Samuel but that’s just not what I think,” he said. with fashion, thinking like a but it’s only since joining Dior last year that Ross of streetwear label A-Cold-Wall. Indeed, he’s not afraid to branch he’s made art collaborations a central feature “A lot of my close friends are not visual out into areas as diverse as music, as brand, and going beyond color. of his design process, tapping Brian Donnelly, artists, but they’re people in fashion. I evidenced by his recent collaboration with aka Kaws; Hajime Sorayama and Raymond don’t know how it got like that, but I’ve American rapper Nas on the teaser for his Pettibon to work on his shows. learned a lot about creative approaches in “The Lost Tapes II” album. “I want to put PARIS — Time waits for no man — especially Jones noted that Dior himself started the way that they use material and things things out in the world that I want to see not guests at the Dior men’s show. out running an art gallery, and was the like that,” he remarked. exist myself, and I’m not going to limit that A teaser image on Instagram for Friday’s first person to show important works by His work with Adidas has turned him into a for someone else’s understanding of it,” display by Kim Jones, to be held at the Salvador Dalí, a historical fact echoed in rock star among sneaker heads, who snapped Arsham said. Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, features the Surrealist effects that appear in his up designs such as his Futurecraft 4D. He noted things are starting to evolve, an eroded wall clock with rapidly spinning spring 2020 collection. “One of the main reasons that working pointing to the example of Virgil Abloh, hands, dropping a major hint about the “Authenticity for me is key, and things with Adidas interested me was their reach who juggles design duties at Louis artist he has chosen to collaborate with like that, it makes people understand. to an audience that doesn’t go to galleries,” Vuitton and Off-White with countless this season: Daniel Arsham. And I think young people enjoy all that Arsham noted. “As much as I can kind collaborations, produces art with Known for his immersive exhibitions information being given to them now, of integrate these audiences, I think Takashi Murakami, and is the subject featuring objects that look like they have because there’s a certain limit to the that’s beneficial both to my work, and to of an exhibition at the Museum of been salvaged from the past — a concept he history that they’re seeing, because it’s all people’s experience in general.” Contemporary Art in Chicago. has dubbed “fictional archeology” — and for online,” the designer said. While he has a separate design practice, “The guy’s unstoppable in his creative his collaborations with brands like Adidas, “All my friends’ kids are getting back to Snarkitecture, that creates furniture, output. I think there’s a different way of Arsham designed the set for the show and wanting to see things in real [life] and not spaces and objects, he considers his fashion looking at it,” he mused. also worked on the collection itself. find stuff out on the Internet, and actually collaborations as part of his art output. Just don’t expect Arsham to launch his Guests arriving at the venue will walk go and read a book. Things are changing “They’re exactly the same for me. I have own clothing line. “I have no intention of through a room inspired by founder slightly, which is positive,” he added. a show that’s opening a week after the doing that. It’s enough to work with people Christian Dior’s office, dotted with the He and Arsham have a lot of mutual Dior show in Shanghai, and the Rimowa who are really good at what they do. It will kind of petrified objects that Arsham refers connections. The artist earlier this year cases are in that show, the collaborations be hard to top what we’re about to do,” he to as future relics. created a suitcase for Rimowa, the German that I did with Adidas: I mean, this feels in said with a laugh. “It’s not based on any one particular luggage maker which, like Dior, is owned space. It’s kind of an amalgamation of by luxury conglomerate LVMH Moët the studio in Paris, his house in the south Hennessy Louis Vuitton. of France, and then detailed photos of Rimowa’s ad campaign this season a particular image of him on the phone, features Jones, alongside personalities making drawings or writing notes at his such as LeBron James, and Rimowa chief desk,” the artist told WWD. executive officer Alexandre Arnault hinted “We kind of pulled out these different there is more to come, posting a picture elements, and a couple of the objects I’ve on Instagram of himself with the designer really re-created as I would, in art, work one captioned: “Something is cooking.” of my cast pieces. Those works also form a Arsham has also been friends for years signature element within the collection, one with Matthew Williams and Yoon Ahn, being a clock that’s still physically there, in both members of the Dior men’s design the atelier in Paris,” Arsham added. team, and he shares a gallery, Emmanuel Beyond the specific motifs that will Perrotin, with Kaws. “It just kind of felt like appear in the clothing designs, he said this natural fit,” he said. the collection was infused with a general Jones said they both share the same feeling of decay. “A lot of the work has this long-term perspective. quality where they look like they’re falling “I like the fact that he’s looking at the apart, but they could also be growing present now in a future tense. And when I together,” he noted. do these collections, I always think about During his previous tenure as head of what’s going to go in the exhibitions about men’s wear at Louis Vuitton, Jones worked Dior or Vuitton, whenever, in 50 years’ Arsham’s Dior set being built.