HB Editons
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GROTTO OF LAOCOÖN is Daniel Arsham’s third print edition created at the legendary print studio Brand X Editions in New York City. This edition is based on a monumental painting made by the artist for his solo show at König Galerie in the fall of 2021. The painting depicts a scene 1000 years into the future or in the past where humans explore a cavern containing a massive crumbling sculpture of the Greek seer Laocoön. Arsham's use of scale and perspective references the 19th Century German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich. GROTTO OF LAOCOÖN is created from 26 individual silkscreens on 40" x 49" Archival 100% cotton paper. Produced in a limited edition of 199, this edition comes in custom Arsham Studio designed linen and silver embossed packaging. Each Edition comes complete with a pair of embroidered Arsham Editions art handling gloves intended to be worn at all times when handling the work. Each print is hand-signed and numbered by the artist and authenticated by a transparent holographic seal of authenticity on the included COA card.
This piece reimagines J.R. Eyerman’s iconic 1952 photograph of an audience in 3D glasses—originally encountered as the book cover for Guy Debord's The Society of the Spectacle—within the contemporary framework of NFTs and digital identity. Eyerman’s photograph captures a collective moment of passive consumption, a striking visual metaphor for Debord’s critique of modern society, where life itself is mediated and commodified through images.
Inspired by my essay Right Click, Save Community: NFTs and the Forging of Future Societies in the Guise of Art, this artwork extends its central thesis: NFTs are no longer mere aesthetic objects but vehicles for building future societies. The pixelated faces overlaying the audience—an homage to CryptoPunks—visualize the transformation of identity, ownership, and culture in the age of blockchain technology. The essay explores how NFTs have catalyzed the creation of decentralized, borderless communities that challenge the structures of traditional governance, and this piece translates that idea into a visual commentary.
By fusing archival imagery with the pixel art aesthetic of NFTs, Right Click, Save Community highlights the parallels between Debord’s spectacle and the new digital paradigms of control and participation. While the original photograph represents the passive consumption of technology, this reimagined version interrogates how NFTs, under the guise of art, create active yet complex systems of societal organization.
This contemporary exploration of Debord’s critique examines the duality of NFTs: as tools for empowerment and decentralization on one hand, and as instruments of commodification and control on the other. It raises critical questions inspired by the essay’s arguments: How do technologies designed for collective agency risk becoming spectacles of their own? Can the convergence of art, culture, and technology truly foster a creative renaissance, or do we remain spectators in another commodified narrative?
Ultimately, the work invites viewers to reflect on the transformative potential of art and technology, echoing the essay’s call to recognize the stakes of creativity in shaping the future of society.
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No.46
Dimensions
1016mm × 1244.6mm
Authentication
Signed by the Artist
Year
2022
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Description text goes here
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Description text goes here
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On recommendation from the print house, this print needs to be laid flat by a framing professional no later than one week after they arrive, to insure they do not retain the rounded shape from the packaging. Due to the layers of ink, leaving the print packed beyond the recommended window could result in the print resisting flattening in the future. Each print is rolled onto a shipping tube, and secured in a custom box. Please take the entire package to the framer so that they may assist you with the unrolling process. Please inform them that the packaging is part of the edition, so that they do not discard the shipping tube or box.
900
“Seven” is a generative art series produced in 2013 exploring the 7 chakras of the human body as abstract representations of vital points or energy flows in the physical body without depicting the physical form itself. This series was created using a generative art process whereby the final output is a result of a collaboration between the artist and a piece of custom written code. In this instance, 7 distinct symbols representing the chakras of the human body, the colour palette and their arrangement in a grid pattern were pre determined by the artist with the program generating infinite outputs within these parameters. 900 Chakras represent one work from the series showing 900 distinct symbols in one image.
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No.46
Dimensions
1016mm × 1244.6mm
Authentication
Signed by the Artist
Year
2022
-
Description text goes here
-
Description text goes here
-
On recommendation from the print house, this print needs to be laid flat by a framing professional no later than one week after they arrive, to insure they do not retain the rounded shape from the packaging. Due to the layers of ink, leaving the print packed beyond the recommended window could result in the print resisting flattening in the future. Each print is rolled onto a shipping tube, and secured in a custom box. Please take the entire package to the framer so that they may assist you with the unrolling process. Please inform them that the packaging is part of the edition, so that they do not discard the shipping tube or box.