Known for manipulating, blurring and painting from found media photographs related to social unrest or current events Julie Mehretu continues to picture contemporary times in new, semi-transparent paintings at Marian Goodman Gallery. Bold, metal frames designed by fellow gallery artist Nairy Baghramian allow new, multi-layered paintings on translucent textile to stand in the middle of the gallery so that the shadows of circulating gallery visitors become visible through them. Citing King David in the Old Testament asserting that his people’s “days on earth are like a shadow,” and referring also to a Buddhist concept of being unfixed in physical state, Mehretu’s new work aims to address a profound state of flux that she sees as characteristic of the current age. (On view in Tribeca through June 6th).
