Palimpsest

Here we have fabulous artist Julie Mehretu, my latest obsession. She is of Ethiopian origin, born 1970, now lives and works in New York (with her lady partner, omg.) She received MacArthur “Genius” grant, is represented by White Cube in London and big galleries in New York and Berlin, and according to Wikipedia one of her pieces sold for around a million US dollars at auction in September. So Mehretu is making bank, basically.

Untitled (brigade) detail, 2005, ink and acrylic on canvas, 36 by 48 inches

Mehretu's thing is highly worked, large-scale canvasses layering pencil, pen, ink and paint, usually acrylic, and her subject matter is architecture and cities: she may include drawings of buildings, floorplans, symbols and flags, along with more abstract marks and blocks of colour and tone. Some earlier work has a diagrammatic, chart-like quality, using made up symbols to record some mysterious change or movement (like the 'Stamped Ink' pieces below). She may use assistants to layers drawings using a projector, which sounds like pretty much the best job in the world to me, I wish it was mine. I think the idea is that she is creating her own syntax to record the city’s history, change and flux, the movements of people and how they respond to the space – it's her own idiosyncratic POV.

Cipher, 2006, ink and acrylic on canvas, 48.5 by 60.5 inches

I like how the work can be read in detail – you can recognize bits of building – but also at a distance as an abstract piece. The level of detail as well as the scale and time-consuming method is almost overwhelming, but also absorbing. To me it really feels like what cities feel like: a confusing barrage of information, your eye roaming over a million complex shapes. Love it!

Palimpsest (old gods) detail, 2006, ink and acrylic on canvas, 60 by 84 inches

Atlantic Wall, 2008-09, Ink and acrylic on canvas, 304.8 by 426.7 cm

Citadel, 2005, ink and acrylic on canvas, 72 by 96 inches

Stamped Ink (the herd three), 1996, Stamped ink on canvas, 72 by 60 inches

Stamped Ink (the herd 2), 1996, stamped ink on canvas, 72 by 60 inches

Berliner Platze detail, 2008-09, ink and acrylic on canvas, 304.8 by 426.7 cm

P.S. I am referencing Julie Mehretu in a class project right now, so all this may sound familiar to anyone in my Drawing Concepts II (:Electric Booglaoo!) class.

And Now For Something Beauteous and Soothing

After looking at a lot of wonderful, lively, stimulating but occasionally icky modern art, it is sometimes nice to look at something entirely and simply lovely. This is where John Singer Sargent comes in handy. Not to simplify or put down his art, because I love it. The light, the deep colours, the charismatic and beautiful sitters, rich fabrics, virtuoso brushwork: amazing.

The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, 1882

(I would recommend a full-view on this one, a closer look at the brush strokes. I love the fact that the two young maids are included and granted as much attention and personality as the young misses in the foreground. I like how the little girl in the front is sitting with her doll and her legs stuck out, just like a real kid and not like a stiff aristo child in portraits from earlier centuries. I like the mysterious dark space the painting recedes into in the background, and what are those strange lights back there? I can't quite make it out.)

Portrait of Carolus-Duran, 1879

(I like this chap, he looks stern yet charismatic, like he is destined to be someone's eccentric father one day; possibly be really into dinosaur bones.)

Mr and Mrs I N Phelps Stokes, 1887

(The adventurous New Woman, with her husband in the background! Amazing! Apparently at the time there was controversy because her hat was covering his crotch, I suppose this was seen to emasculate him. Rather amusing. Also, I love Sargent's women: elegant but not demure, spilling over with personality and self-assurance.)

Nonchaloir (Repose), 1911

(Argh, look at that fabric! I think it must have been a gift to Sargent that the rich women of the time wore voluminous silk skirts.)

Ena and Betty, Daughters of Asher and Mrs Werthheimer, 1901

(I have a postcard of this painting on my notice board at this very minute. I like how with a little imagination it looks kind of gay, although of course it is not. Look at the light hitting that vase, just like in the painting up top of The Daughters. I suppose gigantic vases like that must have been in fashion what with the Orientalism trend. Once again, a useful tool to show off the painter's virtuosity, like how still life artists like to paint decanters of water.)

Isabella Stewart Gardner, 1888

(A major patron of the arts at the time, although I suppose the halo created by the fabric behind her suggest that she is as much as a patron saint. Great artists are also into puns.)

Venetian Glass Workers, 1880/82

(I suppose Sargent must have spent some time painting in Venice. It makes a change from his portraits of fancy-pants Society people. And once again, art and literature set in Venice seems to catch my attention. Maybe I could go there one day.)