Tim Campbell

DC has been treated to a Whitney Biennial import this summer- Walead Beshty's solo show has been on view since late April and runs through 13 September.  

Beshty's work, according to the wordy pamphlet provided by the Hirshhorn, performs deconstructive tricks (because showy tricks is what they are- there is no utilitarian deconstruction, or *gasp* playful explorative deconstruction going on in the work).
This large pamphlet reads like a semi-interesting history of the photogram or a wiki-treatise on the philosophical woes of the camera and its inherited renaissance agendas.  Your kids might like it- it's glossy, colorful, and makes for a fancy paper airplane.  
The work in the gallery inspires a quick walkthrough.  You might get more by downloading the pamphlet from the Hirshhorn's website or Googling Beshty's name.  You'll get the ideas, if you bother.  

The most interesting dilemma here is the Hirshhorn's endorsement and showcasing of Beshty...the sprawling museum, which has some fantastic work in storage, needs to make better use of its space.  Unfortunately, this show is reminiscent of the recent Amy Sillman exhibition.  Bad exhibitions might be habit-forming; DC doesn't need another show of colored, geometric contemporary abstraction that reminds us of colorfield painting.  Such ideas may or may not appeal to Beshty himself- my point is that this is the fate of his show.  Like Sillman's exhibition, Beshty's inspires as much excitement as a can of Pepsi One.  DC has more to offer, and nobody needs to be bored.  Showcasing work like this encourages a generation of 'questioning' artists who (even now) claim to pitch hard challenges to modernist ideology.  Now, I have no problem with the attitude in general, but let's please do something with it.  In this case, as in most others, the artwork poses no challenges to the establishment; it is art for museums.  Palatable, well-read, clever, commercial- yes.  And perhaps a different or more varied hanging of Beshty's work would prove to be more interesting and nuanced.  But the work breaks no boundaries, and a mild retinal buzz and a retreading of standard ideas is what lingers.  The artworld remains closed-off, the work is short-sighted, and the museum props it up.