Writing Art History Since 2002

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This mid-career survey of Julie Mehretu (b. 1970; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia), co-organized by the Whitney and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), covers over two decades of the artist’s career and presents the most comprehensive overview of her practice to date. Featuring approximately forty works on paper and more than thirty paintings dating from 1996 to today, the exhibition includes works ranging from her early focus on drawing and mapping to her more recent introduction of bold gestures, saturated colour, and figuration. The exhibition will showcase her commitment to interrogating the histories of art, architecture, and past civilizations alongside themes of migration, revolution, climate change, and global capitalism in the contemporary moment. Filling Whitney’s entire fifth-floor gallery, the exhibition will take advantage of the expansive and open space to create dramatic vistas on Mehretu’s often panoramic paintings.

Installation view of Julie Mehretu (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 24-August 8, 2021). From left to right: Mogamma (A Painting in Four Parts) (3 of 4), 2012; Being Higher II, 2013; Looking Back to a Bright New Future, 2003. Photographer: Ron AmstutzInstallation view of Julie Mehretu (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 24-August 8, 2021). Left to right: Mogamma (A Painting in Four Parts) (3 of 4), 2012; Being Higher II, 2013; Looking Back to a Bright New Future, 2003. Photographer: Ron Amstutz

The exhibition is co-organized by the Whitney and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The exhibition is curated by Christine Y. Kim, associate curator in contemporary art at LACMA, with Rujeko Hockley, the assistant curator at the Whitney. It will be on view at the Whitney from the 25th of March until the 8th of August 2021.

FEATURED IMAGE: Julie Mehretu, Of Other Planes of There (S.R.), 2018–19. Ink and acrylic on canvas, 274,32 x 304,8cm. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from Anna and Matt Freedman and an anonymous donor. Photographer: Tom Powel Imaging. © Julie Mehretu

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