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Future Archaeological Discoveries Excavated
Daniel Arsham "FICTIONAL ARCHEOLOGY" Hong Kong Exhibition Recap

American artist Daniel Arsham recently partnered with Galerie Perrotin to launch his second solo exhibition “Fictional Archeology” in Hong Kong. In this exhibition, Arsham draws his inspirations from a trip to Easter Island in 2011, where he spent time observing the archaeologists that were excavating statues in the ground. Seeing the archaeologists attempting to uncover a plausible truth, it’s only inevitable that they need to invent a story. He than realized that archeology was also, in a way, a work of fiction. He could not help but asked himself, “Who knows for certain what really happened?”.

Although Arsham did not come up with an answer, he decided to look further into it by infusing the fictional elements of archeology into his artwork. With the use of geological materials such as selenite, volcanic ash, chalk and sand, the “Fictional Archeology” exhibition consists of five eroded sculptures of contemporary human figures and body parts, and two installations that displays casts of modern artifacts like future archeological finds.

Arsham also found inspirations in the images and plaster casts of Pompeian victims, who were solidified in ash after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Among the sculptures, ”The Dying Gaul Revisited” is reactualization of the famous Roman statue “Galata Morente”, which depicts with great realism the bare and prostrate body of a wounded Gaulish warrior down on his shield. On the other hand, Arsham’s version can be seen as a “modern reinterpretation” of the classical sculpture, with contemporary clothing covering the cast. To produce the palpable tension and add a sense of mystery, Arsham intentionally left the knee and the forearm missing from the sculpture, which results in the cast appears to be leaning.

Check out the exhibition above and make sure to drop by Galerie Perrotin Hong Kong before October 10 to see more of Arsham’s work.

Date: September 11 – October 10, 2015
GALERIE PERROTIN Hong Kong +852 3758 2180
50 Connaught Road Central, 17th Floor, Hong Kong

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