If you're looking for a story in Julie Mehretu's work, you're not going to find one. According to Mehretu, her pieces are something to be felt.
To make her works, Mehretu mainly works with acrylic paint, water colors, and air brushes.
Almost everything influences Mehretu's paintings. She explains how it can't be helped to be inspired by the people, places, and things that make up her environment. Experimentation is also a big part of her works, like when she experimented making the surface of her paintings waxy. Geographical and cultural aspects can be seen throughout her pieces as well.
Mehretu's paintings are non-representative. A combination of different lines in a grid-like pattern occupy her works, resulting in a chaotic, yet beautiful, mess. Her paintings (which are described to be painterly and atmospheric) are ginormous in size, some turning out to be 21' x 18'. Several of these paintings are just one big painting while others are composed of smaller paintings that make up one gigantic piece.
To Mehretu, it's all about getting lost in the painting. It's about making the work of art itself.
Information provided by:
"Julie Mehretu." Art21. PBS, n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2014.
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