Julie Mehretu, Local Calm, 2005, sugar lift aquatint with color aquatint and spit bite aquatint, soft and hard ground etching, and engraving on Gampi paper chine collé, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Lichtenberg Family Foundation, 2006.23, © 2005, Julie Mehretu
Howard Kaplan
Writer
November 9, 2011
New York-based artist, Julie Mehretu, was the third and final speaker in this year's Clarice Smith Distinguished Lectures in American Art. Her work uses layers of architectural images--stadiums, airports, ruins both contemporary and ancient--and repurposes them with an eye toward reconceiving and reconceptualizing. Often, through erasure, she finds unexpected meaning and significance. Her palette, running from the grey to the colorful, is grounded in her exceptional handwork. The canvas becomes a palimpsest, with layer after layer of meaning finely wrought, even those that have joined the ghostly realm of the near-visible.
If you weren't able to attend the lecture, take a look at our webcast of her presentation.
