The renowned artist creates “American” paintings for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. She will be working in a neo-Gothic nave for 14 months, painting two huge 8 by 9 metre canvases.
“These are my most American paintings,” the artist told the New York Times. Julie Mehretu started working on her new project the day after the presidential election in November. She adds that calligraphic brush strokes represent her shock over the election results. She explores how “gestural abstraction can conjure in this political moment” and how her works show where American society is in their country right now.
Photo: Nathan Bajar
The completed paintings will be displayed in the atrium of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art for three years. The museum’s director, Neal Benezra, says it’s hard to think of another female artist working at this scale: the history of art is punctuated with epic painting projects by men — from Giotto to Michelangelo to Diego Rivera.
Photo: Jason Schmidt
In her works, Julie Mehretu shows the velocity of contemporary urban life and social changes. Her most expensive painting was sold at an auction for $4.6 million. She received $5 million for a 24 by 7 metre mural in the lobby of the Goldman Sachs tower, according to the New Yorker.
Фото: Ruven Afanador
Julie Mehretu was born in Ethiopia in 1970. She lives in New York with with her wife and their two sons.
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