Daniel Arsham reimagines The Lorax to talk about pollution

3 weeks ago

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Giorgia Massari

First at Art Basel in Miami, now in Venice with an exhibition during the Biennale, Daniel Arsham seems to be everywhere, busy even for Earth Day. The artist announced yesterday, April 22, his collaboration with Dr. Seuss Enterprises, with whom he has created a collection of artwork and a series of home goods and clothing. The inspiration comes from the ’71 children’s book The Lorax, later adapted into an animated film in 2012 with the voices of – among others – Taylor Swift and Zac Efron. The themes of pollution, deforestation, and the environment dealt with in The Lorax – where the main character Ted lives in a city where vegetation is fictitious and everything else in the world is barren and polluted – becomes the perfect opportunity to talk about an increasingly hot and urgent issue in language suitable for everyone. But let’s find out more about this first collaboration between Dr. Seuss and an artist, and why Arsham.

An artist who cares about the environment and our future

Daniel Arsham’s current exhibition in Venice – titled Venice 3024 at St. Catherine’s Cathedral – gives a clear idea of his artistic practice, which, through sculpture, imagines an archaeology of the future or, in a broader sense, offers a vision of the future in order to read the present with a critical eye. The preservation of the environment is a theme dear to the artist, who looks with admiration at the direct language of Dr. Seuss, capable of dealing with such important issues and addressing them to even the smallest audience. This is why the Arsham – The Lorax pairing is perfect to celebrate yesterday’s Earth Day. First of all, it is the book, reinterpreted by the artist and completely hand-drawn strictly on recycled paper, that is the leader of this collaboration. Then follows, as anticipated above, a capsule of clothing –two sweatshirts – and home goods, all made from eco-friendly materials.