My recent trip to Los Angeles, where I exhibited at The Other Art Fair, was all too brief. The only museum I managed to get to was The Broad, impressive for its architecture as well as contemporary art.
Julie Mehretu‘s Invisible Sun (algorithm 8, fable form) was one of the paintings I was able to photograph completely. Seen like this it looks like a charcoal drawing but is painted with acrylic and ink.
Look at the energy and density of her mark-making.
Cairo 2013 is a truly monumental piece, with architectural elements of the city’s past and its present in a whirl of energy and flux. It’s so big you can almost fall into it.
Is it my environmental commitment combined with my textile heritage that always draws me to El Anatsui‘s work? This piece is tiny compared to his Tate Turbine Hall commission ( see my blog post for images of that).
Kara Walker is another artist I deeply admire who has undertaken a Tate Turbine Hall commission.
African’t from 1996 uses her trademark silhouette technique to show deeply shocking content from America’s pre-Civil war era. We must never forget the past.
Read it from left to right.
The museum is free to visit but booking is recommended.