Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/315051
venture that Pharrell and I started seven years ago," he explains, "as we brainstormed all these great moments of artistic syn- ergies, there was also true happiness and friendship." Arsham, who has enjoyed a fruitful creative relationship with Pharrell notes that "he is one of the more humble people I know." At Pharrell's request, the work by Arsham in "G I R L," too, is a product of the two playing ar ound in the creative lab. "Collaborating is like a crash course in someone else's life," Pharrell says, "If I'm going to collaborate with someone, it's because I consider them to be a master at what they do." Arsham, whose renderings of today's technology as archaeological artifacts, can "trace the origin of the work to the project with Pharrell." The piece—a lifesize glass and resin rendering of the mu sician—was no small feat: it required Pharrell to be "inside of this mold for two hours, silent, covered in Vaseline, even your ears are covered," says Arsham. Entombed for art, "once the flesh can't move, the spirit is made to realize that it can run rampant," Pharrell says, citing the experience as spiritual—a reflection Arsham too is intimately acute. "I am always the one inside the mold." In turn, A rsham beckoned Pharrell in his casting state to make his signature prayer hands, which "sends a message that you're connected to something much bigger and greater than you—and us," he says. "To me, it's the symbol of power and focus and also a measure of just being grateful." When Pharrell teams up with this, "influential collective, the people who shape the future," perhaps anything is possible. "I'm s ure that I will be in the studio with him at some point," Arsham hints. After all, a circle is infinite. CULTURED 129