Mehretu and Rauschenberg

Julie Mehretu, Atlantic Wall, 2008–09 at The Guggenheim

 

went to the guggenheim last monday and after seeing everything they got in there, 2 paintings stayed w/me. i've been a fan of Julie Mehretu for a while. i like all her layers, here crazy map making, but i've always wanted to see her loosen up. their chaos is at times too ordered and i wanna see some true catastrophe and i wouldn't mind seeing them on a smaller scale. i got a little of that w/her show Grey Area at the guggenheim. as the title implies the work was grey, but there were smudges, drips and general messiness! and new to my eyes was the obvious placement of trapezoids and other rectilinear shapes. check out the one on the upper left corner. the gugg ain't so generous w/photos - ugh. there was one on the far right wall at the end of the gallery that i fell in love with - it was the messiest one. some of these paintings also had subtle gradients of delicate, pastel colors in the background. the image below isn't at the guggenheim, but it's another piece i really enjoy.

untitled, 1999, 27" x 21"

this is a smaller painting on vellum. those pink triangles really open up the space and to me come outta left field, which is why i like them. they really are a bold move here. her marks are looser too.

Robert Rauschenberg, untitled, 1963 at the guggenheim

this guy is always an inspiration. i remember in college serving my friend his left nut because he thought rauschenberg was bad painter. every time i see a piece of his there's so much to learn from. this section (Appropriation and the Archive) of the exhibition Haunted: Contemporary Photography/Video/Performance, might have been my favorite part of the show. i've been wanting to play around w/silk screening and other printmaking techniques for that reason, to appropriate certain images/forms into my painting. elements in the above that particularly caught my eye are the bold blocks of color (on left, red and blue), the smears of paint w/drips throughout, and that one image smack dab in the center of merce cunningham dancing. i usually try NOT to put things right in the middle, seems too obvious, but in this instance it works well and anchors the otherwise allover crazy of the painting.

Rebus, 1955, at MoMA

i love looking at this one, it is a classic. the drips and application of paint, the general messiness, all the collage action that's going on and that awesome line of paint chips running across the entire piece. fabulous!