Julie Mehretu’s work is on a comparatively huge scale, and she works with paint to create layered and intricate canvases. She works with imagery, graffiti, and architectural photographs. The reason i am going to be exploring her work is due to the large scale and how this compares to my own work. Mehretu takes influence form JAckson Pollack and Bruce Newman, which is clear to see in her works. The large erratic colour, angled lines and use of colour is representative of her influences.
This work is Julie Mehretu’s HOWL, eon (I, II) (2017)
Image from: https://www.sfmoma.org/exhibition/julie-mehretu-howl-eon-i-ii/
It is made from two huge canvases placed on the walls of the SanFrancisco MOMA. They are so large that Mehretu needed a cherry picker to work on the whole expanse of the surface of the canvas. This is quite different to my way of working, where I may use a step ladder or the classic paintbrush on-a-stick to reach heights as an extension of my body. Here the cherry picker becomes an extension of her body, making it possible to reach these heights. This is different to the to way the Pollack made his paintings, laying them across the floor and dripping and moving the paint that way, which is similar to my (unresolved due to lack of floor space) floor painting ‘Untitled’ 2021. The way that Mehretu is painting upright is similar to my work ‘Transient Convection’ (2021). However this work Julie Mehretu’s HOWL, eon (I, II) (2017) is still upholding to some traditional painting techniques – the fact that is is on a canvas that can be removed and travelled upholds that ‘art market’ theme that I look to be able to move away from in my work.
