daniel arsham: the fall, the ball, and the wall

pixel cloud (new york), 2010 plastic, paint, 53.25 x 79.2 x 67 inches © the artist, courtesy oh wow gallerydaniel arsham ‘the fall, the ball, and the wall’ at oh wow gallery in los angeles, on show until february 16, 2012.

‘the fall, the ball, and the wall’ is the first solo exhibition of the cleveland-born-and-NY-based-artist and architect daniel arsham in los angeles.

BALL ‘ball’ refers to arsham’s a large-scale, hanging mass of 20000 polyethylene balls in shades of gray, from the set of merce cunningham’s final performances, it is a three-dimensional hanging sculpture based from the pixels of a hyper-magnified photograph of a cloud formation. pixel cloud, close-up

pixel clouds © the artist, courtesy oh wow gallery

WALL the ‘wall’ alludes to arsham’s sculptures which alter the surface of the gallery wall. his structural interventions cause walls to appear in a state of flux, as if they are melting or dripping, reverse the notion of architectural rigidity and of a partition’s standard presentation.

big drip’, 2011, fiberglas, joint compound, and paint, 48 x 96 x 8 inches © the artist, courtesy oh wow gallery

‘hiding figure’, 2011 fiberglass, gypsum, paint and shoes, 86 x 50 x 12 inches © the artist, courtesy oh wow gallery

‘curtain’, 2007 EPS foam, plaster gauze, 82.8 x 48.75 x 6.75 inches © the artist, courtesy oh wow gallery ‘mail slot’, 2008 bronze, plaster, paint, joint compound, 38 x 23.75 x 2 inches © the artist, courtesy oh wow gallery

and the ‘fall’ links to a context where structures seemingly defy the laws of nature — ‘I’m trying to create a space where the architecture appears to be in movement,‘ he explains. his aestheticized sculpture and installations realize hypothetical architectural elements and counter-intuitive designs, queuing possibilities and coercing material to behave atypically.

in the bi-dimensional series of work on canvas, below, the artist depicts realistic building constructions, which include elements that spell out words, such as ‘want’ or ‘oops’.