Daniel Arsham's creations are based on his concept of fictional archaeology. Working in the fields of sculpture, architecture, drawing and cinema, he creates spaces and situations where he stages what he describes as the future relics of the present.

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These works are skilfully made from materials such as sand, selenite or volcanic ash, so that they appear to have been recently discovered, after centuries of burial. Most of the objects he transforms into stone are classic and iconic everyday objects of the 20th century.

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The Future Relic series, produced and edited from 2013 to 2018, includes, for example, nine different sculptures: a mobile phone (first generation), a camera with its lens, a needle alarm clock, an audio cassette with magnetic tape, a landline telephone keys, a Polaroid type camera, an audio cassette player, a radio, and a musical keyboard synthesizer. All the sculptures are published in 500 copies and are made of plaster with inlays of glass fragments. The process developed to make them has the particularity of producing unique works each time. More clearly, the erosion is different for each work.

For all his works, Daniel Arsham works a lot on the process. Despite its apparent simplicity, the result is the fruit of hard work. In fact, more than a year can pass between the initial drawing and the final piece. In the beginning, a long period of research and development was needed to establish the right crystallization technique and perfect texture. For example, most of his works are made from geological rocks, such as volcanic rock or quartz. Then each time, the first draft must be adapted in plaster, to then be transformed into the final sculpture. Sometimes projects are impossible, in which case they must be abandoned. This process is also a way for Arsham to question the limits of artistic creation.

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How far is he willing to go for a job he cares about? At what moment does he arbitrate between the importance of his creation and the time necessary for its realization? Moreover, in his Paris 3020 exhibition, the artist pushed the limits of his creative process even further. In order to produce life-size reproductions of emblematic statues, such as the Venus de Milo or the Seated Moses by Michelangelo, he collaborated closely with the moulding workshop of the Réunion des Musées Nationaux (RMN). Using quartz, gypsum cement and blue calcite, Arsham used the same materials as those for classical sculpture, while adding his personal touch with crystallization. The result? He succeeded in breathing new life into what had gone before, projecting his new vision, erasing all boundaries between past, present and future.

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Evolution of Daniel Arsham's Market Value

His limited-edition sculptures, such as the Future Relics, have consistently appreciated over time, by around 10% per year on average, and even more for the most sought-after pieces. Take the Future Relics series as an example: released in 2015, these works originally retailed for less than €500 each, whereas today most of them sell for close to €5,000.

As for his auction results, his highest hammer price was achieved at Phillips in Hong Kong in 2019. The work was a Quartz Eroded Vogue Magazine sculpture, which sold for €300,000. This large-scale piece, measuring 1.5 m by 1 m, recreates in the artist's signature "Eroded" style a cover of the famous fashion magazine Vogue.

It is worth noting that almost all of his large-scale sculptures, whether unique editions or original works, are sold through major galleries such as Perrotin, at prices ranging from €500,000 to €1 million. As these works are still relatively recent, they have not yet appeared at auction. It is highly likely that within the next five years, as they begin to circulate on the secondary market, new records will be set, further increasing the artist's market value.

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Counterfeits and Authenticity

Daniel Arsham’s unique and highly technical process of localized erosion represents a significant barrier to entry for counterfeiters. As a result, very few copies can be found on the market, and those that do exist are generally crude and easily identifiable.

At a minimum, all of his works are delivered in their original custom packaging and include a certificate of authenticity. The earliest Future Relics (2013–2016) were accompanied by a certificate card indicating the edition number and, in some cases, a security hologram. Since 2020, Arsham Studio has systematically included a tamper-proof security hologram featuring the edition number. Some works even come with a numbered certificate personally signed by the artist.

Print editions (including screen prints, lithographs, and similar works) are signed and numbered in pencil by Daniel Arsham and are accompanied by a certificate of authenticity (COA) bearing a security hologram.

In conclusion, one should never purchase a sculpture without its original packaging.

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Daniel Arsham’s Most Popular Works

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Falling Clock: The Materialization of Time Collapsing

Among Daniel Arsham’s most iconic images is undoubtedly the Falling Clock series. These clocks appear to warp under their own weight, slowly sliding down a wall or melting away until they lose their original function: measuring time.

The work belongs to a long artistic tradition that questions the representation of time, while immediately evoking the legacy of Surrealism and the famous melting clocks of Salvador Dalí. However, Arsham adopts a different approach. Whereas Dalí sought to depict the subjective and psychological nature of time, Arsham aims to reveal its physical materiality.

In Arsham’s universe, time operates as a geological force capable of deforming objects and architecture. The clock is no longer an instrument of measurement but instead becomes a victim of the very phenomenon it was intended to control.

This work also serves as an excellent introduction to Arsham’s broader artistic practice: for Arsham, time is never abstract. It possesses a tangible presence that alters materials and transforms everyday objects into relics from another era.

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Future Relics: The Archaeological Remains of Our Present

The Future Relics series is probably the conceptual core of Daniel Arsham’s body of work. Through it, the artist imagines a distant future in which our civilization has disappeared, leaving behind objects that have become incomprehensible to future generations.

Mobile phones, cameras, radios, tape recorders, cassette players, and video game consoles appear as artifacts unearthed during imaginary archaeological excavations.

These objects are typically transformed through the use of materials such as quartz, selenite, volcanic ash, and crushed glass. Their surfaces appear to have been consumed by erosion, while crystals emerge from cavities as though geological processes had slowly invaded the material over the course of centuries.

The power of this series lies in the sense of dislocation it creates for the viewer. We immediately recognize the objects being represented, yet their state of preservation forces us to view them as remnants of a vanished civilization.

This temporal inversion raises several fundamental questions: Which objects will tell the story of our era centuries from now? Which technologies will survive obsolescence? Which symbols will enable the archaeologists of the future to understand our way of life?

With Future Relics, Arsham transforms our present into a potential past.

This series remains the most sought-after among collectors.

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Eroded Porsche 911: The Automobile as a Cultural Icon

Automobiles occupy a special place in Daniel Arsham’s universe, and none is more emblematic than the Porsche 911.

The artist does not view the car as a mere means of transportation, but rather as a cultural object comparable to ancient sculptures or architectural masterpieces. The Porsche 911, with its instantly recognizable silhouette and legendary status in the history of industrial design, becomes in Arsham’s hands a true contemporary relic.

In his eroded sculptures, sections of the bodywork appear to have vanished under the effects of time, revealing mineral cavities and crystalline formations beneath the surface. The automobile thus appears as an object unearthed after centuries of burial.

This transformation profoundly alters our perception of the car. A consumer product becomes a historical artifact. Industrial design enters the realm of archaeology.

The choice of the Porsche 911 is, of course, far from accidental. Few vehicles possess such a powerful visual identity or such an extraordinary ability to endure through decades without losing their iconic character. In this sense, it provides the ideal subject for a reflection on collective memory and cultural transmission.

Today, these works rank among the artist’s most sought-after and visually striking creations.

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Hollow Mickey: The Deconstruction of a Global Icon

With Hollow Mickey, Daniel Arsham applies his visual language to one of the most recognizable figures in global popular culture.

The famous character appears hollowed out from within, partially eroded, or punctuated by voids that create the impression that time has gradually consumed its structure.

The choice of this figure is particularly compelling. Mickey Mouse represents one of the most widely disseminated cultural icons in modern history. Its image is recognized across every continent and has transcended generations for nearly a century.

By transforming it into an archaeological relic, Arsham raises a fascinating question: how will future civilizations interpret the symbols of our own era?

The character thus ceases to belong solely to the realm of entertainment and enters the domain of universal cultural heritage, alongside Greek statues and ceremonial masks from ancient civilizations.

The work also explores the notion of collective memory. Certain images seem to acquire a form of cultural immortality that extends far beyond the context of their original creation.

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Crystallized Pikachu: When Pop Culture Becomes Archaeology

The sculptures depicting Pikachu are probably Daniel Arsham’s most popular works among the general public.

The famous character appears as a sculpture partially overtaken by crystals, as though centuries of geological evolution had gradually transformed its original material form.

The association between the world of Pikachu and Arsham’s fictional archaeology proved particularly natural. Creatures imagined in the 1990s have already become global cultural references recognized by multiple generations.

By presenting Pikachu as a relic discovered in the distant future, the artist highlights the speed with which objects of popular culture can attain the status of collective heritage.

The work also questions the place of popular culture within art history. Why should an ancient statue be considered more worthy of preservation than a character that has shaped the imagination of hundreds of millions of people around the world?

This series perfectly illustrates Daniel Arsham’s ability to dissolve the traditional boundaries between high culture, mass culture, art history, and contemporary design.

It has played a major role in introducing his work to an audience far broader than that of collectors and enthusiasts of contemporary art.

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Bronze Eroded Bust of Rome Deified as Cybele: Imperial Memory Transformed by Time

With Bronze Eroded Bust of Rome Deified as Cybele, Daniel Arsham continues his dialogue with Greco-Roman statuary while deepening his reflection on the permanence of political and cultural symbols.

The work draws direct inspiration from ancient representations of Cybele, a major figure of the ancient Mediterranean world associated with fertility, nature, and the protection of cities. In Imperial Rome, the personification of Rome itself was at times depicted with the features or attributes of this deity, creating a close connection between political power and the sacred dimension.

Arsham adopts this classical iconography but subjects it to the effects of his fictional archaeology. The bust appears to have passed through centuries of history before being discovered during archaeological excavations in the distant future. Certain parts of the face remain perfectly preserved, while others appear eroded, fragmented, or replaced by mineral formations.

This coexistence of integrity and deterioration constitutes one of the work's most fascinating aspects. The viewer simultaneously encounters the grandeur of the Roman Empire and the inevitable traces of its decline.

Bronze plays an essential role here. Traditionally associated with commemorative monuments and sculptures intended to endure through the centuries, the material symbolizes humanity's desire to resist the passage of time. Yet in Arsham's universe, even bronze ultimately yields to geological forces and erosion.

The artist thus seems to remind us that all civilizations, even the most powerful, eventually become objects of study for future generations.

The work also questions the ways in which societies construct their collective memory. Official statues are designed to convey an idealized image of power and history. But what remains of this ambition after several centuries? Do monuments truly outlive those who commissioned them, or do they simply become fragments whose meaning must be reinvented by each new era?

Through this sculpture, Arsham transforms a symbol of political permanence into a meditation on historical impermanence.

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Blue Calcite Eroded Venus of Arles: Classical Beauty Reinvented Through Geology

Blue Calcite Eroded Venus of Arles stands as one of the most spectacular works in Daniel Arsham’s series dedicated to ancient figures.

The work revisits the famous Venus of Arles, a Roman sculpture dating from the 1st century AD and likely inspired by a Greek original attributed to Praxiteles. Today preserved at the Louvre Museum, the statue represents one of the great models of feminine beauty within the Western classical tradition.

Rather than faithfully reproducing the original, Daniel Arsham subjects this idealized figure to a slow and imaginary geological transformation.

Certain parts of the body remain intact, while others appear to have been replaced by striking formations of blue calcite. The crystals emerge from the sculpture as though they had naturally grown within the marble over centuries before gradually breaking through its surface.

This fusion between human intervention and natural processes constitutes one of the central themes of Arsham’s work.

The sculpture no longer appears as a fixed object created by an artist at a specific moment in history, but rather as a living material that continues to evolve through time. The work becomes almost an organism in a state of perpetual transformation.

The choice of blue calcite also carries a powerful symbolic dimension. The color blue evokes both the mineral depths of the Earth and the futuristic imagery of science fiction. It creates a striking contrast with the references to white marble traditionally associated with ancient sculpture.

This visual opposition contributes to the temporal ambiguity that Arsham seeks to create: antiquity encounters the future, mythology enters into dialogue with geology, and human culture merges with natural processes.

The figure of Venus occupies a unique place in the history of Western art. For more than two thousand years, she has symbolized ideals of beauty, harmony, and formal perfection. By introducing fractures and crystalline growths into this canonical image, Arsham subtly challenges the very notion of timeless perfection.

Beauty no longer appears as an immutable state but as an evolving phenomenon, capable of transformation while retaining its aesthetic power.

This work perfectly illustrates the recent evolution of Arsham’s artistic practice: his sculptures no longer merely depict objects eroded by time, but instead stage an imagined collaboration between the artist, materials, and geological forces.

Blue Calcite Eroded Venus of Arles has therefore become one of the most accomplished expressions of his artistic language, situated at the intersection of archaeology, classical sculpture, and speculative science fiction.

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The Class Art Biarritz gallery offers multiple sculptures by Daniel Arsham.

More information about Daniel ARSHAM on our blog:

-Time Fold exhibition, when Daniel Arsham bends time at Perrotin Gallery
-Eroded Delorean sculpture 10 years anniversary !
-We visited the MOCO museum in London

-The Five Years of the Eroded Surfboard

-Five Years On: Daniel Arsham's Eroded Zeus, a Contemporary Icon at the Heart of La Défense