The Bronze Sculpture Garden Oasis Among Concrete

The installation entitled "Bronze Garden" at 180 Studios at 180 Strand is a continuation of a series of site specific Zen Garden works imagined by New York based artist Daniel Arsham. Inspired by many years of travel to Japan and visits to the Temples and dry gardens in Kyoto, Arsham investigates the ideas of time and impermanence often found in his work. The installation at 180 Studios includes two new large-scale bronze sculptures by Arsham one of which "Bronze Eroded Crouching Venus" is based on a 19th Century marble work by the Italian artist Antonio Canova. The Canova work was a recreation of an even earlier original Roman marble sculpture from the first century AD. The multiple reinventions of this figure by artists of different eras through history creates a complexity to the piece itself and invites us to consider it within the context of the Brutalist architecture and current day creative hub that is 180 Studios. The zen garden itself was designed in consultation with Japanese bonsai and zen garden Sensei Teppei Kojima, with whom Arsham has collaborated on his previous zen garden works. Additionally the UK based Rosebank Landscaping was consulted thus combining concepts found in Japanese dry gardens and English garden traditions and paying homage to the importance of these spaces in both cultures. Instead of the traditional sand or gravel often found in Zen gardens, Arsham's installation is made up of crushed marble, recycled from the debris of ancient marble sculpture and architecture, again closing the loop of history and referring to the material of the original sculpture from thousands of years ago. "Bronze Garden" will be on view in the ground level courtyard of 180 Studios beginning October 12, 2021.