Daniel Arsham is collaborating with Pokémon for a Uniqlo UT collection

©Daniel Arsham Courtesy of NANZUKA ©2020 Pokémon. TM, ® Nintendo

American artist Daniel Arsham is best known for his detailed designs of decaying objects including everyday items such as cars and basketballs and pop-culture icons like Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh. His latest endeavour is an exciting collaboration with Pokémon, making him the 'first visual artist to be granted access to the Pokémon Archive.' He recently teased the project on his Instagram account with an animated video of Pikachu meeting a broken Arsham sculpture of itself.

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Over the past year, I have had the fortunate opportunity to work with the @pokemon company and the animators from their studio. As the first visual artist to be granted access to the Pokémon Archive, my intention with the project was to not only bring the universe of Pokémon and the characters into my work, but to have my work infiltrate the Pokémon universe, as well. As a part of my collaboration with Pokémon, a collection of designs with @uniqlo and @uniqlo.ut will be releasing April 24th online globally. My studio worked with the design team from the original series to create this animation, even using the real voice of Pikachu. Join me in Kanto over the next year as this special project rolls out. 🧩

A post shared by ARSHAM STUDIO 3020 (@danielarsham) on Apr 8, 2020 at 8:49am PDT

Arsham's Pokémon collab is set to debut on April 24 with a collection of T-shirts for Uniqlo UT. Although a number of Uniqlo stores, including locations in and around Tokyo, are currently closed due to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, the collection will also be available for purchase online. There are a total of five T-shirt designs (¥1,500 each); they come in black and white, and feature Pikachu, Ash and Mewtwo. 

©Daniel Arsham Courtesy of NANZUKA ©2020 Pokémon. TM, ® Nintendo

The Uniqlo UT collection is just one of Arsham's upcoming Pokémon projects titled 'Relics of Kanto Through Time'. Art exhibitions were also set to take place at Parco Shibuya, Nanzuka and Roppongi Hills in Tokyo, but they've been postponed until further notice amid coronavirus closures. 

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