
Polished copper, accrued FedEx shipping and tracking labels
Collection Ginette Moulin / Guillaume Houzé, Paris
Galerie Regen Projects, Los Angeles
© Emmanuel Nguyen Ngoc
For several years now Walead Beshty has been creating minimalist sculptures whose shape and dimensions are based on those of standard FedEx packages. Cubes or tubes made of safety glass are then sent via the shipping company to the exhibition venue, where they are put on display—often partly broken—beside their shipping package. Here we have a polished copper tube which shows the traces of its international trip, from the label that remains stuck on the piece, to the fingerprints of the delivery men and the dents acquired during its journey. Conjuring up both the ruin of minimalist art and the importance of the time that goes into creatintg a piece, Copper Tube suggests that the work of art can be as much a process as a finished object.