Walead Beshty, 'Passages,' 2009, mixed media installation.
Extending the impact of his recently exhibited glass cubes, fabricated to line the interior of FedEx shipping crates and develop cracks in route between his studio and exhibition venues, Walead Beshty covers every inch of gallery, office and entry floor with large squares of mirrored shatterproof glass. Viewers become collaborators in his process as they step on the reflective surface, enlarging patterns of cracks in a game of chance beyond anything ever imagined by Jean Arp. Reflected in the cracked mirrors, visitors and gallery interiors join with Beshty’s amalgamation of chance and predetermined rules, demonstrated in a series of large photographs printed from film exposed to airport x-ray machines. A slide show examining deserted shopping centers and a rooftop-mounted public billboard displaying a black and white star field image titled “Dust,” complete this compelling display of Beshty’s venture into the nature of public space and art in transition.
Published courtesy of ArtScene
