Ansel Krut - What Julie Mehretu said to me about Goya (and what Goya said about Julie Mehretu)

A conversation between two drawings, one by Goya and one by Julie Mehretu. The Goya was made in 1826, the Mehretu in 2017 yet they speak very directly to each other, and to us. Looking closely at each work reveals the many fascinating overlaps between them.  Both artists respond to their personal circumstances and their times but both draw us into their worlds through a shared visual language that reveals they have more in common than might appear at first glance.

Ansel Krut is a painter who lives and works in London. He was born in South Africa and studied at the University of the Witwatersrand (BA Fine Art, 1982) and at the Royal College of Art, London (MA Painting 1986). He has lectured at art colleges throughout the UK, including the RCA, and also at the National Gallery, London. In 2016 he was one of the judges for the John Moores Painting Prize. Recent Solo Exhibitions include Cut Flowers, Marlborough Chelsea, New York (2016); Verbatim Jerwood Gallery, Hastings (2014); Stuart Shave/Modern Art, London (2014); Marlborough Chelsea, New York (2013); Kunsthal Amersfoort, The Netherlands (2011); Stuart Shave/Modern Art, London (2010). Recent Group Exhibitions include: Painters’ Painters, Saatchi Gallery, London (2016); The Violet Crab at DRAF, David Roberts Arts Foundation, London (2015); Feels Like Heaven, Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, Israel (2014); and Newspeak: British Art Now, Saatchi Gallery, London (2010). His next solo exhibition will be at Marlborough Contemporary, New York, in May 2019.