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Join me as I chronicle the diverse, fascinating and unique world of fine art printmaking. I can’t wait to introduce you to artists, master printers, as well as amazing collectors, scholars, and print world professionals. I will explore the many facets of the print world, highlighting new editions and techniques, interviews, art market analysis, and other happenings. Enjoy!
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Julie Mehretu
Julie Mehretu Dispersion, 2002, ink and acrylic on canvas
Julie Mehretu was on my radar for some time, but I was completely blown away by the exhibition at the Williams College Museum of Art in May of 2008, Julie Mehretu: City Sitings April 19–July 27, 2008. Here is the Press Release. After this I started paying special attention to her prints.
Rogue Ascension (2002) is an example of how Mehretu takes her interest in space and transforms it from painting to the print technique.
Mehretu, Rogue Ascension, 2002, lithograph in colors
JULIE MEHRETU (B. 1970) Rogue Ascension, lithograph in colors, 2002, on Somerset and Denril vellum, signed and dated in pencil, the edition was 35 plus 7 artist’s proofs, published by New Museum Limited Editions, New York
Mehretu’s swirling universe composed of explosions, grids and abstracted forms translates into printmaking through the use of lithography. The medium aids Mehretu’s investigation of movement and time through the use of different paper layers. The surface layer is created by printing in different intensities of black on semi transparent paper. Geometric colored forms which constitute the underlayer thus become distorted, challenging the eye to read the subject as simultaneously advancing and receding. The unique quality of the print enables the viewer to physically interact within the created space.
Here are some shots of her working process at High Point Editions on Entropia
Mehretu working at High Point Editions
Printers measuring
Registering
Driving downtown after work one evening I spotted the installation in the building at 200 West Street – this is the biggest project of her career.
This 21 x 85 foot long mural was commissioned during the massive financial crisis of the decade. Mehretu described the task before her as ‘absurd,’ and she wondered ‘can you actually make a picture…of the history of a capitalist development,’ tracing the early maps of the Silk Road to the evolution of the marketplace as it occurs today? I find this to be a perfect example of how artists are able to articulate the history and moment of 2009 perfectly.
Watch a video of Mehretu on the Crown Point Press website or her interviewed by the PBS series ART: 21