[STYLE IN SPADES]

Earlier today I stopped by the Guggenheim for the media preview of an upcoming exhibition. Julie Mehretu: Grey Area, an exhibition of six new large-scale paintings by American artist Julie Mehretu, will be presented at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum as part of the Deutsche Bank Series at the Guggenheim, May 14 to October 6, 2010.

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The image of Atlantic Wall (above) is from the Museum’s website.

However, as you’ll notice from my photo below, the piece looks very different in person:

^Atlantic Wall 2008-09

Ink and acrylic on canvas, 304.8 x 426.7cm

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The suite of semiabstract works in Grey Area is inspired by a multitude of sources, including historical photographs, urban planning grids, modern art, and graffiti, and explores the intersections of power, history, dystopia, and the built environment, along with their impact on the formation of personal and communal identities.

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^Middle Grey 2007-09

Ink and acrylic on canvas 304.8 x 426.7 cm

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^Middle Grey (detail)

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Here two more detail shots of Fragment and Berliner Plätze:

^Fragment, 2008-09 (detail)

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^Berliner Plätze, 2008-09 (detail)

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Using ink and acrylic paint, Mehretu layers detailed schematic depictions of buildings and cityscapes with abstracted forms and lines, playing with the depth of the composition. Through this layering, combined with the use of erasure and the smudging of gestural marks, structures seem to dissolve on the surface of the canvas. Julie Mehretu: Grey Area was organized by Joan Young, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art and Manager of Curatorial Affairs at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

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I enjoyed the exhibition- of the six, Berliner Plätze was my favorite. It was nice outside, so I continued down Museum Mile to check out the Met’s American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity exhibition. More on that later…

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