Julie Mehretu and John Jasperse Find Common Ground

Julie Mehretu’s “TRANSpaintings” are translucent and readable from both sides, so a viewer’s shadow can read like a figure — or like a dancer. At the Marian Goodman Gallery in TriBeCa, John Jasperse’s Wandering places seven dancers in the exhibition, moving along white walls and through arched apertures, weaving around the paintings and the audience.

Mehretu first thought of working with choreography while watching the TRANSpaintings arranged by Nairy Baghramian; her partner Ariel Osterweis proposed several choreographers and she chose Jasperse. Jasperse, who directs the dance program at Sarah Lawrence College, had long admired her work.

Neither wanted the paintings reduced to décor or the dance to animate a backdrop; their aim was a space where the two practices would alter one another. Both artists recognized parallels in their methods: layering and a movement from source into abstraction.

julie mehretu, john jasperse, transpaintings, marian goodman, tribeca, wandering, nairy baghramian, ariel osterweis, choreography, sarah lawrence