Julie Mehretu: Politicized Landscapes | Art21 "Extended Play"
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ก.ย. 2024
- Episode #252: Shown working on two site-specific paintings for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), Julie Mehretu recontextualizes the history of American landscape painting by merging its sublime imagery with the harsh realities not depicted. "What does it mean to paint a landscape and be an artist in this political moment?" she asks from the decommissioned Harlem church used as her studio for the project.
Referencing the ways that landscapes have been politicized through historical events-from the violent expansion of the American West, colonialism, war, and abolition, through to more recent race riots and social protests-Mehretu began by combining photographs from these events with nineteenth-century landscape paintings. Abstracting and digitizing the blended forms, she printed the resulting images on two monumental canvases, each spanning more than eight hundred square feet. Over these underpaintings, Mehretu adds gestural, calligraphic brush strokes before screen printing an additional, complicating layer of pixelated images. Collaborator Jason Moran, a composer and jazz pianist, joins Mehretu in the studio to create a musical arrangement inspired by her improvisational process of markings and erasure.
Through their respective practices, the two artists create new visual and auditory languages in the hopes of processing the complex history that brought us to our present moment. As Mehretu explains, the paintings become "visual neologisms," that combine the work and inventions of past artists, "to address when language isn't enough."
The paintings, titled "HOWL, eon (I, II)" (2017), are currently on view in the SFMOMA atrium.
Julie Mehretu's paintings and drawings refer to elements of mapping and architecture, achieving a calligraphic complexity that resembles turbulent atmospheres and dense social networks. Architectural renderings and aerial views of urban grids enter the work as fragments, losing their real-world specificity and challenging narrow geographic and cultural readings. The paintings' wax-like surfaces-built up over weeks and months in thin translucent layers-have a luminous warmth and spatial depth, with formal qualities of light and space made all the more complex by Mehretu's delicate depictions of fire, explosions, and perspectives in both two and three dimensions. Her works engage the history of nonobjective art-from Constructivism to Futurism-posing contemporary questions about the relationship between utopian impulses and abstraction.
Learn more about the artist at:
art21.org/arti...
CREDITS | Producer: Ian Forster. Interview: Ian Forster. Editor: Morgan Riles. Camera: John Marton. Sound: Michael Kelly. Artwork Courtesy: Julie Mehretu, Marian Goodman Gallery & SFMOMA. Music: Jason Moran & Jamo Publishing (SESAC). Additional Footage Courtesy: SFMOMA. Special Thanks: Sarah Rentz, Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum & Damien Young.
"Extended Play" is supported, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; Art21 Contemporary Council; and by individual contributors.
TRANSLATIONS
Translated subtitles are generously contributed by our volunteer translation community. Visit our translation team at Amara for the full list of contributors:
amara.org/en/v...
#JulieMehretu #Art21 #Art21ExtendedPlay
I love when visual artist and musicians work together. 😍😎
This is why contemporary American Art is unmatched in the world at the moment.
My Foothill College Beginner Drawing class assignment was to compare artists Jean-François Millet and Julie Mehretu. journal
The first impulse is to say, Millet and Mehretu have nothing in common. Millet's drawings are coherent and recognizable images and places and Mehretu is a mess of lines and dots. Millet uses charcoal, graphite and pastel on paper and Mehretu fabric with preprinted patterns derived from computer processed and pixelated photos of black riots. Millet’s pictures are quiet and peaceful and Mehretu’s are abstract paint strokes, lines and patterns anxious and intense like electric impulses coursing through brain ridges and folds.
But after studying the art and artists through the analytical microscope, we begin see, that there is a lot of similarities in Millet’s and Mehretu’s art. Incapsulated in their art DNA is the social agenda of expressing the voice of the underprivileged or oppressed. For Millet an inspiration is the class differences in France and for Mehretu it is the racial injustice in America. Landscape is the setting and the backdrop for Millet’s paintings and for Mehretu it is an expression of the American colonialism and inspiration.
Line runs like DNA through the core of the art and unites it. Millet uses line to beautifully construct on paper specific subjects - farmers, peasants, workers - and quietly implies social narrative. Mehretu uses line to deconstruct emotion, create beautifully conceptual art and incapsulate social narrative into the - literally - fabric of her pieces. The results are fascinating and artistically and intellectually enjoyable pieces that contribute to dynamic portraits their time.
That building in which they are working is a work of art ~
definitely.
Every new group of images, every talk, lecture, interview that I see and hear from this painter just further cements her into something I might call.. now, really.. my favorite living artist. I mean, for what it's worth. What I mean, though, is BIG INSPIRATION. The work is strong.
LOL
Seen her in person at a event. I said hello and she for some reason cut her eyes at me and totally ignored me and walked off annoyed. I get people have bad days, but it’s been hard for me to forget that every since.
Julie, you are an inspiration! Brava!
I can never seem to shake off the feeling that she has gotten so good at faking authenticity. What she says, the way she says seems just a facade. Things don’t line up here..
I was wondering about this, myself. Is it sincere or is it manufactured motivation and explanation? Can you recommend other artists that you feel are more authentic? Thank you.
100 percent
is it just me or is the audio for every one of these art videos on youtube cut and spliced so awkwardly
Gracias Julie y Jason. Hacía tiempo que no veía algo que me moviese tanto como este trabajo vuestro..In love...xxx
All art is art and everyone who does art are artists, who likes it great for them who does, nt too bad
Yes!!!! Julie, Jason, SFMOMA, Art 21!!!!!! YESSSSSSS all day and all night.
The art contained herein is her ability to talk some into spending this money to allow her to scribble on a gigantic canvas while simultaneously convincing other people there's a meaning to be gathered from the result.
Im honestly curious, what artists do you like? Especially in the contemporary field?
@@jackfirmin5814 I don't know if they fit the qualification that you're looking for, but some of my favorite artists working today are James Jean, Kim Jung Gi, Jennifer Balkan, Charlie Mackesy, C Fox Payne, Jeremy Mann, and Casey Baugh.
I could keep going but that's a decent list. Have amazing skils but lots are also willing to push how far they stick to a realistic representation of the world. Can say a lot in a piece or just excellently recreate the world around us. No gimmicks. Just dedication to the craft and a desire to constantly grow.
Thanks for asking though. Hope that helps.
@@bottlingthemoon You assume representation is the arbiter of quality in artwork. If that's so, I challenge you to define the boundaries of representation and abstraction, because as a painter I don't see one. Inspect a Sargent close up and it dissolves into abstraction, inspect a Pollock close up and it congeals into a literal representation of paint. Jeremy Mann used to be a purely abstract painter, and I'm sure this informs his current work. While teaching representational drawing, professors will tell you to forget about what you're seeing and think of the subject as a composition of abstract shapes. Doing this allows you to draw what you see, and not what you think you see. Look up the painting "Nocturne in Black and Gold, the Falling Rocket" by Whistler, this is the first abstract painting... done in 1875! It captures this paradox between abstraction and representation.
100 percent this! Now Amex raves her as one of the greatest artist of all time! Really? what a joke!
At first I thought the markings were the underdrawing and she was going to apply something on top. Not sure what I think of the end result aesthetically.
@@cdabcdefg12345 didn't say it "should", just left me aesthetically ambiguous.
What a beautiful team
Oh wow You tube read my mind, I was just thinking about Julie and this vid came on! Just 3 days ago I went to The Broad Museum in Los Angeles to see the Basquiat collection and Barbara Kruger's Untitled(Your Body is a Battleground) and I was drawn a piece in the main room it was called Ciaro by Julie Mehretu. I fell in love with it and her right away, heh.
Outstanding creativity Julie!
lol
May be I am ignorant when it comes to art, but really, these days, what is considered to be art is only on the level of idea.
4:15 Love the Rhodes! (I still have and cherish my early-70s Rhodes 73.)
Amazing art!
History makes history makes us
An incredible visionary artist ... I am stunned by the power. Thank you for sharing this documentary - she is now one of my all time inspirations.
LoL
That's just awesome
loved it. great work Julie..
That rainbowish square color makes me a bit teary
Googling a photo, blurring it. having helpers print it and stretch it. scribbling on it, and selling it for millions. How talented. Remember when she actually did paintings that were worth a shit?
excellent job. loved this.
Good-going, Julie.
It s a bit of a trick, that it shall be about the race conflicts, beacause the pixels origin in photographs of that press material? Or is it the emotion of the artist, that is touched by these incidents? Do we really need those tell me a story"- conceptual moments in abstract painting?
What an inspirational person
עוצמה ומנומנטליות, רגישות רבה וביטוי חזק, יופי מלבב.אהבתי
this is honestly so cool.
F*ckin breathtaking!
does anyone know what jason moran song is playing towards the end?
WOW! That's awesome. =)
adoro o trabalho dessas pessoas.
The art doesnt match her statement of what it was about. I can just do some scribbles and say its about xyz. It's about disgruntled workers upset about Trump and Clinton but you live in USA where you can make scrubbies and get paid alot. Ok sure Jan
Ok grumpy, you critic the work but remember those (including Trump) came at different time from different places but all are immigrants to America except the natives so shove your "this country belongs to me" attitude.
"There is no such thing as just landscape. The actual landscape is politicized through the events that take place on it."
I'm pretty certain she she's racism everywhere she looks. It must be horrible to view the world that way and to define who you are by what your body looks like.
"I'm pretty certain she SEES racism everywhere". There,...fixed it for ya. Yes she does.
The world is currently overrun with these idiots EVERYWHERE.
It’s amazing how people go through life imprisoning themselves like that. It’s surreal, really. All that money and creative energy, yet such individuals are trapped in the prisons of their own minds, choosing to stay in the cell even though they hold the key to open the door.
" Grand " !!!!
How are you going to make a american landscape painting with the 'hidden' DNA of the painting being a black man getting arrested in LONDON during the tottenham riots, it just doesn't make sense.
I think she was referring to race riots, cause they are universal while simultaneously very visible in the U.S. during the last years. You are right though, it would be more consistent just to use images from the U.S.
isso pra mim não é ARTE , é uma expressão rabiscada , não vejo nada de mais a não ser o tamanho
it's monumental. That's why people like it. but it's nothing more than scribbles. Nothing wrong with scribbling, though. But first, she's not offering anything new here. Second, she's pretentious and is only capable of saying some big pretentious words that have absolutely nothing to do with the work. It is very easy. Mention Trump, American History, any other hot topic, some SJW bullshit, more pretentious philosophical BS, and you're good.
good!
So, ¿she wants that we see a history of violence in her works?... Again, words trying to build a presence that not exists, even if the image is in there, it is no perceptible...
*Contemporary art process* Take a real piece of art and make it crappy, infuse your crappy politics into it, and then throw some more crap over it.
why would you even watch this video if you think this about contemporary art?
@@albertb-c488 that's not what he's saying.
I had to watch this for a 2D Design class. I agree. I think at some point people should get to say "This isn't good art." I mean, that would mean my pieces too, which is fine. They say art is subjective, and subjectively, I think she's full of it.
Wow!!/ NOiU
An absolute genius
this is just somthing frm cy twombly style
Some people,....lots of them, have to politicize everything. It makes them seem more important or "profound". Without her grindstone politics, her art is lightweight and boring.
Absolutely. If you don't like America, leave Her!!!
I used to like her work quite a bit. But this just looks like random scrawls that never come together where the whole is more than the sum of the parts. There's no landscape discernable, or colonial landscape, and her attempts at figuration look half assed and non committal. Plus she talks too much and is too eager to 'explain' . I think it was Picasso who said artists should have their tongues cut out. She is proof of that. Very disappointing.
The minute you believe you have presented yourself as an authority to dictate what an artist should be making and how they should be discussing it, then you have fucking failed at understanding art at it's most basic level....And fuck picasso his opinion is nothing more than that
@@trahapace150 so basically, one is not supposed to have an opinion? is that what you're saying?
but you do not have them working on your team, or black people on your team (like more then 2)...if there are 2...we want to talk but don't seem to walk the walk...Con-Fusion...
i dont like it
So much politics in my blurred and abstracted photograph. And my squiggles -- Oh my squiggles -- So political! Have I mentioned Trump is an asshole? My squiggles really betray that, I feel. So political.
it's so deep. The moment you mention Trump (in a negative way of course) you're almost approved as good artist of some interest. Now keep pushing harder, maybe mention BLM, colonialism, etc...and you'll eventually make it to MoMA or The New Museum.
You don't even have to incorporate these ideas in your actual work. Dropping these words in your artist statement or press release may suffice. Especially if you are a woman/colored/muslim/gay/trans (even better, if you are all of these!! woohooo).
Esto esto es pintura?? Tanto material y tanto mobiliario para pintar eso? Hamparte puro
wow
The design was ok for one or two paintings but like Richter, why stop when the same stuff can be sold again and again with la-di-da commentry from critics. The ehnicity helps.
How to do a modern art: throw a paint on a canvas then come up with an explanation about it. done
No. That's the oldest argument against modern art, going back to Monet, Van Gogh, even Constable. But abstract art is not about reproducing visual reality, but reducing, abstracting, reality to essences, of the way things feel. The complexity and panache of Mehretu is very different from the warmth of Motherwell or the lyricism of DeKooning, etc.
You do it then...
@@tomfurgas2844 Jesus, put the bong down
@@tomfurgas2844 Ahem. Art is subjective. If he doesn't like it, he has the right to complain.
What a steaming pile of horse puckey.
As is Australia but we are like the lazy adolescent
No, you don t have to only talk about that
There are other more important and interesting subjects. I am not american, but i ve been consuming american media for a log time and it s become rotten because of all the political stuff
that was the most boring video of my life.
Quisiera poder tener un lienzo de ese tamaño para pintar algo de verdad. No esos garabatos absusrdos. Que mugregero.
hihi
fraud art
Lessons in futility ,cy twombly has already done this years ago much better .
and without the pretentious talk about politics and what not
ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Rabiscos
pathetic form of art.
Wtf?
When I see the Sistine Chapel or any Renaissance art, I realize how POOR we are ...
If we can call this art, then my opinion on it is: Shame!
akala ko si jinkee Pacquiao
modern art: garbage
true, we should only except art that demonstrates technical ability and not artistry in a more abstract way that hits on a more intellectual and poetic level. Everything should be landscapes and portraits, I think hitler would have agreed with you as well.
*Contemporary (modern art finishes with Beuys, I think)
Thanks for the wise words, obviously the fact that her art piece are tremendous helps...
Francisco Betancourt
If you have not figured out that we are garbage and not only that garbage is an essential part of our capitalist life, your slow....
Educate yourself
American art. Meh.
?
i think they are good but not majestic or as complicated as a real landscape only god can do that
Who's paying for this nothingness .
I don't understand therefore it is garbage. I don't understand space, garbage, don't understand math, it's garbage, I don't understand why my father left me, garbage.