<span>For <em>O</em></span><em><span>bject No. 1</span><span> </span><span>–</span><span> </span><span>AirPods</span></em><span>, the first piece in his </span><em><span>New Materialism</span></em><span> series,</span><span> Ian Delucca asks us to view AirP</span><span>ods as art. In the artist's hands, these everyday objects are given a bedazzling makeover and transformed into miniature pieces of sculpture.</span> <span>The A</span><span>ir</span><span>P</span><span>ods have <a href="https://www.thenational.ae/business/technology/apple-unveils-new-iphone-11-and-video-service-1.908553">Apple</a> internal components coated in 14k white gold and dotted with 1,000 VVS diamonds,</span><span> and they come with their own dedicated marble charging stand. Each pair is fully functional and marked with a serial number detailing edition number and creation date. They will be available in a limited edition of 25, and can be acquired prior to public release by contacting Delucca, who is based in Los Angeles, directly via Instagram.</span> <span>With </span><em><span>New Materialism</span></em><span>, Delucca aims to meld art and commerce.</span><span> He is appropriating capitalist techniques, symbols and processes, and reimagining existing products with a new appreciation for form. "</span><span><em>New Materialism</em></span><span> guides us into new relationships with the material world," the artist says. "</span><span><em>New Materialism</em></span><span> is about taking these things that we're very familiar with and altering them in a way that forces us to reset our perspective, to look at things more deeply, and to see our parameters as individuals deepen within us," he adds.</span> <span>"The </span><span>AirPods are about developing an iconography and language as an artist.</span><span> They hold in themselves not only form but a vast set of cultural information; containing a time and place, an idea of an economic system, both in what created them and what they communicate about the people who wear them," Delucca explains.</span> <span>So wh</span><span>at other objects </span><span>are on the list to </span><span>get the </span><em><span>New Materialism</span></em><span> treatment?</span><span> "We've been in the studio disassembling some of the hardest to get handbags, playing with the materials they provide," Delucca reveals. "</span><span><em>Object No. 2</em></span><span> will likely be shoes. Then large-scale wall works."</span>