Julie Mehretu at White Cube
Julie Mehretu at work, 2017. © Julie Mehretu (photo by Tom Powel Imaging, Inc., courtesy the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery)
Julie Mehretu’s art- if White Cube is to be believed- is ‘traversed by history (…) grounded in urgent political and social questions while simultaneously troubling the limits of abstract painting.’ 1Glenn Ligon, ‘On the Ground’, Grey Paintings, Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, 2017
It can’t speak for the limits of abstract painting, but Instantloveland is certainly feeling troubled: it’s as if there’s a phrase just hanging in the air, and it’s that old favourite: ‘apocalyptic wallpaper’. Mehretu crams her paintings with supercharged iconography, gleaned from the image continuum of 24/7-streamed world news; but are they perhaps too big, and too layered, to do anything other than fit snugly in behind the corporate furniture?
Instantloveland will get round to viewing the show in its own sweet time; but if you’d like to have your Mehretu review hosted here first, you know the drill: have a good look at ‘Notes for Contributors’, get writing, and when you’re ready, send to: matt@instantloveland.com or john@instantloveland.com
Julie Mehretu: SEXTANT at White Cube, Mason’s Yard from 21st September to 3rd November 2018
Julie Mehretu, ‘Flo Me La (NS)’, 2017-18. © Julie Mehretu (photo by Tom Powel Imaging, Inc., courtesy of the artist, White Cube, London and Marian Goodman Gallery)