Daniel Arsham

Miami, FL – September 24, 2015 – Multidisciplinary artist Daniel Arsham made his return to Miami—to the National YoungArts Foundation, where he was recognized as a winner in visual arts as a high school student in 1999—with The Future Was Written, a wholly immersive and evolving exhibition, curated by newly appointed Pérez Art Museum Miami Director Franklin Sirmans. Premiering on YoungArts Awareness Day, a nationwide initiative to encourage young artists to pursue a career in the arts, the exhibition’s opening reception celebrated the impact that the organization has made on the lives of thousands of emerging artists. The show’s opening reception was preceded by the first YoungArts salon of the season, sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, featuring Daniel Arsham and Franklin Sirmans (on Skype) in conversation with moderator Claire Breukel, Director and Chief Curator of Y.ES. Following an introduction and brief Q&A with Sirmans, Arsham discussed the evolution of his work, his connection to Miami, and collaborating with legendary Merce Cunningham and Jonah Bokaer. In The Future Was Written, Arsham transforms the YoungArts Gallery into a site of fictional archeology by covering the walls with blackboard paint and peppering the space with nearly 2,000 objects made of chalk. The exhibition will be on display from September 25 through December 11.

The work of Miami-raised, New York-based artist Daniel Arsham combines art, architecture and performance to distort the line between the real and the imagined, calling to question our understanding of structures, space and form. Known for his sculptural work and large-scale paintings, a pivotal moment in Arsham’s career took place in 2004, when legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham asked the artist to create stage designs for his dance company. Since then, Arsham has translated his monochromatic palette and clean aesthetic into several other projects and collaborations, including a series of keyboard sculptures with musician and producer Pharrell Williams; the collaborative and experimental studio Snarkitecture he founded with Alex Mustonen; and the production company Film the Future he founded with director/cinematographer/editor Ben Louis Nicholas and producer Courtney Andrialis.

Daniel Arsham

WRE: How did winning YoungArts in 1999 help your burgeoning career in the art world?

DA: 1999 was the year I graduated High School. I believe any encouragement you can give someone at that age, which YoungArts certainly did for me to pursue a dream working in this field, is helpful.

WRE: How did the idea for this show come about? Did you collaborate closely with Sirmans?

DA: I have known Franklin Sirmans for a couple years now since meeting him at an exhibition I did in Philadelphia. Eventually he got in touch about doing this particular project at YoungArts and we had a discussion about creating a large scale exhibition. The kind of scale that wouldn’t necessarily be seen in one of the galleries that I typically work with. We divided the space into this kind of installation, in some ways collaboration with the audience on the ground floor and and on the upstairs where there are other works of mine that fall into this fictional, archaeological world.

WRE: What should the average gallery goer expect from opening night?

DA: On the ground floor there are thousands of objects that are cast in chalk. All of these objects are taking the form of things from your past and things that you may remember like old phones, cameras, things largely related to communications including facial expressions and hands and gestures. These objects will be used to create drawings and writing on the walls of the space. The direction to the people is to write your impressions of the future using these objects from your past.

WRE: What was it like growing up creatively in Miami? Was it oppressive, or did you find opportunities to nurture your talent?

DA: I believe no matter where you grow up, you have to find your own opportunity. I was fortunate to be able to go to magnet schools from elementary school on, and when I returned to Miami after finishing college in New York I opened a space with some friends of mine called “The House.” That sort of proactive quality is something that has helped me a lot and is something that I always encourage other younger artists to do.

WRE: Miami has certainly evolved culturally in the past 10 years, how has the city improved, and what are the areas still left for progress?

DA: I think that Miami is an amazing place for pursuing an early career as an artist. There’s a lot of support and interest in what young artists are making here. With that being said, I did find it difficult to reach a more international audience which is part of the reason why I moved back to New York. I think that Miami has expanded heavily and one of the things that we see frequently is that artists continuously get pushed to the fringes of neighborhoods. “The House,” the space I spoke about before, was on 25th and Biscayne which is now a condominium. There’s a reason why artists are leaving, because they cant afford the rent in those areas. I don’t think Miami has done a particularly good job of keeping space for artists. Of course there’s organizations like Cannonball and Locust Projects that are trying to do that so it’s not an entirely lost cause, but I always try to encourage people that I know here to support local artists and do as much as they can for them.

Daniel Arsham

I believe no matter where you grow up, you have to find your own opportunity.

Daniel Arsham

Dana Parker

Aaron Glickman

Matthew Chevallard & Daniel Arsham

Kathryn Mikesell, Daniel Arsham, & Dan Mikesell

Kathryn & Dan Mikesell

Claire Breukel & Willie Logan

Oliver Sanchez, Claire Breukel, & Daniel Arsham

Claire Breukel & Oliver Sanchez

Daniel Arsham

Claire Breukel & Daniel Arsham

Claire Breukel & Daniel Arsham

Daniel Arsham

I think that Miami is an amazing place for pursuing an early career as an artist. There’s a lot of support and interest in what young artists are making here.

Daniel Arsham

Daniel Arsham & Alex Mijares

Daniel Arsham

Jenny Moscoso & Bryant Franco

Evelyn Aimis, Sheila Elias, & Luki Cancio

Sheila Elias, Luki Cancio, & Evelyn Aimis

Julz

Roma Cohen & Daniel Arsham

Daniel Arsham & Juan Carlos Arcila-Duque

Rebecca Mandelman, Adrian Villaraos, Marika Lynch, & Jordan Levin

Amy Rosenberg, Angela Birdman, Rebecca Mandelman

Louis & Angela Birdman

Sheila Elias & Willie Logan

Matt & Victoria Mondini

Melissa Swanson, Eva Pereira, & Stephanie Ecott

Joshua August, Paloma Soyka, Alain Martinez, & Remy Walker

Stephanie Zilo, Oti Roberts, & Felicia Marquez

Lena Makurath, Chris Oh, & Esther Park

Dejha Carrington, Delia Rivera, Keen One, Pase One, Tracy Golin, & Sam Baum

Lee Cohen Hare, Elise Morales, Mikey Centrella, Dejha Carrington, & Katie Breuil

Alberto Lamadrid, Felicia Marquez, Frank Estevez, Axi Mines, Adam McPherson, & Allison Phillips

Daniel Arsham & Kalyn James

Daniel Arsham

Mr Brown