Julie Mehretu: Myriads, Only by Dark, 2014.
GEMINI G.E.L. AT JONI MOISANT WEYL
Chelsea, New York, Until March 28.
Haka, 2012.
About:
Installation view ‘Myriads’.
Julie Mehretu’s etchings carry a unique depth of field that makes her work reminiscent of both an aerial view of a landscape and a cross section of a fibrous being. Her works possess elements similar to those of maps, blueprints, city plans, mountain ranges, and dust storms. Although abstract, these works represent the happenings of the human race. The marks act as individuals who, in conjunction with points of erasure, elicit the building, destruction, and rebuilding of civilizations. Mehretu refers to her creative process as “mark making”. Each mark on the canvas carries a different weight, size, intent, and meaning. The power of a single mark is captivating. Viewed from close proximity, the marks appear to be almost completely autonomous from each other. However, from far away the marks overlap and interact with each other to form one coherent image. Perhaps even more remarkable than mark making is the absence of marks in Mehretu’s work. Small patches and even large geometric areas of the paper are unmistakably left unmarked. Erasure and marks that were never created at all somehow become prominent. This use of negative space alters preconceptions about the medium with which she works. Mehretu chips away at the canvas with erasure, eliminating positive space like a sculptor chiseling away marble. (text Dak’Art 2014)
Myriads 1.
Myriads 2.
Myriads 3.
