Tag: walead beshty

Walead Beshty at Petzel Gallery

Many artists work with fascinating methods on which they, unfortunately, don’t elaborate.  Walead Beshty’s latest installation at Petzel Gallery swings to an almost opposite extreme, detailing the contents of his studio in over five thousand images picturing tools and objects that have contributed in some way to his production as an artist.  Each cyanotype is the product of a simple photographic process that renders objects in white against a treated blue background of newspapers, boxes, personal correspondence and more.  Originally commissioned by London’s Barbican Art Center in 2013, the installation (seen only in part at Petzel Gallery) still speaks powerfully to the incredible amount of unseen labor behind today’s art production.  (On view in Chelsea through Dec 14th).

Walead Beshty, installation view of “A Partial Disassembling of an Invention Without a Future: Helter-Skelter and Random Notes in Which the Pulleys and Cogwheels Are Lying Around at Random All Over the Workbench” at Petzel Gallery, Nov, 2019.

Walead Beshty at Petzel Gallery

Walead Beshty’s exhibition at Petzel Gallery opens like a revenge drama on uncooperative office equipment, with this sculpture composed of a monitor, skewered by a steel pole and spewing out its interior components. Rather than commenting on frustration or alienation with technology, however, Beshty’s piece expresses his ongoing interest in exposing behind-the-scenes aspects of conceiving of, creating and displaying art. (On view through June 17th).

Walead Beshty, Office Work (Apple iMac A1312 27” Desktop Intel Core 2 Duo), Apple iMac A1312 27” Desktop Intel Core 2 Duo and steel, 72.5 x 30.5 x 30.5 inches, 2017.