
colour photographic print
This large-scale photographic transparency by Walead Beshty documents the cumulative effects of airport X-ray security scanners on unexposed film, as the work passed through Los Angeles and New York international airports. The resulting abstract washes of color — a hazy, bruised amethyst described through an elaborate taxonomy of alternate names including Crocus, Wild Orchid, and First Lady — emerge not from the artist's direct hand but from the incidental exposure of the material to surveillance infrastructure. The work exists at the intersection of process, chance, and institutional systems, transforming a bureaucratic encounter into an ethereal field of violet-pink light.
- Medium
- X-Ray Amethyst *(photographic transparency, LAX/JFK/JFK/LAX, 240 0.7rp 6.0 6.9 #BB6C8A) *Alternate Names: Crocus, Cuban Orchid, Eupatorium Purple, First Lady, Laelia Pink, Lilacinus, Livido-Purpureus, Wild Orchid
- Spotted At
- Auction House · Phillips
🔨 Auction Lot
Under the Influence
December 10, 2014
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