Walead Beshty, Visiting Artist Lecture 2011

Los Angeles-based artist Walead Beshty speaks about his art before an audience at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, calling particular attention to the interrelationship between aesthetics, ethics and politics as he describes bodies of work ranging from an abandoned Iraqi embassy, dead malls, glass and copper FedEx boxes, glass floors and altered designer furniture, and explaining how the different handling of the materials in transit was manifested on them and critical to their becoming art objects. Questions from the audience lead him to explore further philosophical ideas about his art and his role as an educator.