Walead Beshty FedEx® Kraft Box© 2005: FedEx Standard Overnight Los Angeles–New York, trk# 8675 2590 1103; FedEx Standard Overnight New York–Washington, trk# 8631 3319 4523, date April 13–14 2009; FedEx Standard Overnight Washington–Miami, trk# 7950 0886 1541, date July 26–27 2011; International Priority Miami–London, trk # 8439 1188 5383, date January 11–13, 2012 2012 Laminated glass, silicone, metal, FedEx shipping box, packing tape and accrued FedEx tracking labels. 52 × 52.5 × 52.5 cm (20 1/2 × 20 5/8 × 20 5/8 in).
Provenance Private Collection, USA Catalogue Essay The conceptual artist Walead Beshty who was born in London and works in Los Angeles, has gained international critical acclaim for his multilayered exploration of the boundaries between aesthetics and politics, value and meaning, history and technology. His work literally crosses borders both artistic and geo-political, with a wide-ranging practice that includes photograms made using airport X-ray machines, and pseudominimalist sculptures shipped through the holding bays of today’s hyperconnected globe by cargo giant FedEx. The current lot consists of a laminated glass cube sized to fit its accompanying FedEx shipping box, with an accumulation of FedEx shipping labels and marks of transit bearing testament to its progress through the world. Upon arrival at its destination, the work is displayed by using the cardboard FedEx box as a pedestal with the shatterproof glass cube on top – often, ironically, cracked and shattered, showing the all too corporeal marks of its journey. Thus, despite their standardised initial qualities, each work becomes unique and physically distinctive. To the artist, this notion of evolution through time and transit – the accruing and materialising of meaning via context – is critical: “The object itself isn’t significant on its own, it’s contingent, so I think those works make this contingency palpable physically; you can’t separate the thing in front of you from this notion of contextual dependence” (from Mikkel Carl in conversation with Walead Beshty 2010). Creating art by circumventing the artist’s hands and putting humble materials in a new context places Beshty in the tradition of conceptual artists like Marcel Duchamp and Urs Fischer while his quoting of minimalists such as Sol LeWitt and Larry Bell addresses post-modern concerns. Beshty himself calls this conceptual process “invisible labour”, pointing out that in our society, it is common to judge things by their appearance and not their story, remaining ignorant of where things have come from and what their influences have been. In contrast, Beshty claims that everything is informed by context, space and time. Read More
Walead Beshty FedEx® Kraft Box© 2005: FedEx Standard Overnight Los Angeles–New York, trk# 8675 2590 1103; FedEx Standard Overnight New York–Washington, trk# 8631 3319 4523, date April 13–14 2009; FedEx Standard Overnight Washington–Miami, trk# 7950 0886 1541, date July 26–27 2011; International Priority Miami–London, trk # 8439 1188 5383, date January 11–13, 2012 2012 Laminated glass, silicone, metal, FedEx shipping box, packing tape and accrued FedEx tracking labels. 52 × 52.5 × 52.5 cm (20 1/2 × 20 5/8 × 20 5/8 in).
Provenance Private Collection, USA Catalogue Essay The conceptual artist Walead Beshty who was born in London and works in Los Angeles, has gained international critical acclaim for his multilayered exploration of the boundaries between aesthetics and politics, value and meaning, history and technology. His work literally crosses borders both artistic and geo-political, with a wide-ranging practice that includes photograms made using airport X-ray machines, and pseudominimalist sculptures shipped through the holding bays of today’s hyperconnected globe by cargo giant FedEx. The current lot consists of a laminated glass cube sized to fit its accompanying FedEx shipping box, with an accumulation of FedEx shipping labels and marks of transit bearing testament to its progress through the world. Upon arrival at its destination, the work is displayed by using the cardboard FedEx box as a pedestal with the shatterproof glass cube on top – often, ironically, cracked and shattered, showing the all too corporeal marks of its journey. Thus, despite their standardised initial qualities, each work becomes unique and physically distinctive. To the artist, this notion of evolution through time and transit – the accruing and materialising of meaning via context – is critical: “The object itself isn’t significant on its own, it’s contingent, so I think those works make this contingency palpable physically; you can’t separate the thing in front of you from this notion of contextual dependence” (from Mikkel Carl in conversation with Walead Beshty 2010). Creating art by circumventing the artist’s hands and putting humble materials in a new context places Beshty in the tradition of conceptual artists like Marcel Duchamp and Urs Fischer while his quoting of minimalists such as Sol LeWitt and Larry Bell addresses post-modern concerns. Beshty himself calls this conceptual process “invisible labour”, pointing out that in our society, it is common to judge things by their appearance and not their story, remaining ignorant of where things have come from and what their influences have been. In contrast, Beshty claims that everything is informed by context, space and time. Read More
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
