Saw one of her large scale paintings at the MOMA a while back. Some of these have 15 + layers of drawing and paint. Awesome to see the originals.
JULIE MEHRETU
Artist
Lives in NYC
b. Ethiopia 1970
ABOUT
Julie Mehretu b. 1970, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Lives and works in New York City.) She is celebrated for her large-scale paintings and drawings that layer abstract forms with familiar architectural imagery. Inspired by a multitude of sources, including historical photographs, urban-planning grids, modernism, and graffiti, these semiabstract works explore the intersections of power, history, dystopia, and the built environment and their impact on the formation of personal and transcommunal identities. Mehretu studied at Kalamazoo College in Michigan (BA, 1992) and (MFA, The Rhode Island School of Design 1997). She has participated in numerous international exhibitions and biennials including Documenta 13 (2012), the New Orleans Biennale (2008), the 15th Biennale of Sydney (2006) and the Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art (2004). She has had solo exhibitions at such institutions as the Guggenheim Museum, New York (2010), the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, Spain (2006), and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2003)
