Tyler Green talks to painter Julie Mehretu on the occasion of two simultaneous exhibitions, one at Marian Goodman Gallery, New York (thorugh June 22) and the other at White Cube, London (through July 7).

Mehretu discusses "sonic suggestion" in her paintings. "I work listening to music," she says, "I'm very interested in how there's never a moment of absolute silence and even in silence there's a lot of sound. I'm interested in the visual experience but [also] the link to something that suggests a type of sound. I feel the marks do that in a way, they participate in that, you can almost hear them. Sometimes it's a very rapid staccato movement… you can almost feel a vibration between them… you can almost hear it. I like that suggestion. For me it's very apparent."