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A bright gallery space with polished wooden floors and white walls. Large, colourful abstract prints hang on the walls, with two open doorways leading into further rooms.

Walead Beshty's magnificent X-Ray-damaged photographs at Thomas Dane Gallery

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Date
20 April 2012

Los Angeles-based Walead Beshty, the artist famed for his Fed-Exed glass and copper cubes, is now showcasing an eerily beautiful selection of photographs at Piccadilly’s Thomas Dane Gallery.

An artist whose work is largely inspired by the in-between, Beshty’s photographs are a second run of exposures damaged by airport security x-rays. The first time this occurred was in 2006 when his negatives were almost destroyed by the fierce post-9/11 security systems, inspiring his notorious Travel Pictures exhibition. Beshty’s violent hole-punches in the negatives only add to the grimly beautiul, damaged photographs, and represent his political views on the palpable subject matter – an abandoned, trashed Iraqi diplomatic office located in former East Berlin.

Images courtesy of the artist and Thomas Dane Gallery
Photographer: Richard Ivey

Four large vertical prints hang on a white gallery wall above a herringbone wood floor. Each print features a different abstract image with a solid black circle centred in the middle.
Above

Walead Beshty ‘Travel Pictures’ at Thomas Dane, London

Six large vertical artworks hang in a white gallery space with a herringbone wood floor. Each piece features a large black circle layered over abstract, colourful imagery.
Above

Walead Beshty ‘Travel Pictures’ at Thomas Dane, London

A dimly lit, cluttered room with peeling paint on the ceiling. A single chair sits atop a white desk, surrounded by scattered papers and furniture.
Above

Walead Beshty ‘Travel Pictures’ at Thomas Dane, London

A vast pile of scattered books and papers fills the frame. The scene is bathed in a deep pink light, casting heavy shadows across the jumbled pages.
Above

Walead Beshty ‘Travel Pictures’ at Thomas Dane, London

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About the Author

Liv Siddall

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Liv joined It’s Nice That as an intern in 2011 and worked across online, print and events, and was latterly Features Editor before leaving in May 2015.

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