Thursday, December 17, 6pm
Steiner Auditorium

FREE.  A rising star of contemporary art, Walead Beshty will present the Museum's Second Annual John Morton Lecture in Photography.  Beshty's work takes many forms, but central to his practice is examining photography's role in shaping our understanding of history.  He exploits the contradictions ad paradoxes inherent in the mechanics and processes of the medium as well as its subjects, focusing on links between the real and the reproduced. 

Beshty was born in London in 1976 and now resides in Los Angeles.  He received an MFA from Yale University School of Art (2002) and his BA degree from Bard College (1999).  He is on the faculty of the Art Center College of Art and Design in Pasadena, CA.  He has had solo exhibitions at P.S. 1/MoMA Contemporary Art Center, Wallspace in New York, and the UCLA Hammer Museum and China Art Objects in Los Angeles.  Beshty's work was included in recent exhibitions at the Tate Modern in London, the Renaissance Society in Chicago, and the 2008 Biennial Exhibition at the Whitney Museum of Art.

According to Ron Platt, Hugh Kaul Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, "Walead Beshty's name will not be familiar to some, but he is one of the most innovate artist/photographers of this decade."