Grant Recipients Grants to Artists Visual Arts 2000

Julie Mehretu

Julie Mehretu is pictures leaning on a ladder in her studio. She wears all black and has short black hair. Two large pieces of paper with sketches on them are hung on the white walls behind her.
© Jim Rakete.

I was broke and needed to come up with the money that day for the contractor to finish [the studio]... I opened the envelope from FCA with the check inside that same afternoon. It was unbelievable. The money from the grant assisted me in finishing the new studio to make my new very large paintings and it helped me with other production costs for my first solo museum exhibition at the Walker Art Center. That show is a very important marker in my work and my career.

- Julie Mehretu, August 11, 2006

Biography

Julie Mehretu is a painter who creates large-scale works that combine references to architectural diagrams, aerial views, and maps, both real and imaginary, with signs and symbols. The resulting canvasses consist of densely layered intricate grids and networks that are flecked with color. Mehretu's practice is concerned with the political, personal, and social implications of public spaces. Her 2000 Grants to Artists award supported the production of her first solo museum exhibition, Julie Mehretu: Drawing into Painting, at the Walker Art Center in 2003.

Solo exhibitions subsequent to receiving her Grants to Artists award include Julie Mehretu: City Sitings, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit (2007), Williams College Art Museum, Williams, MA (2007), North Carolina Museum of Art (2008); Mehretu: Grey Area, Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin & Soloman R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2009); Julie Mehretu: Half a Shadow, carlier|gebauer, Berlin, Germany; Liminal Squared, Marian Goodman Gallery, NYC (2013), White Cube, London (2013); Mind Breath and Beat Drawings, Marian Goodman Gallery, Paris (2013); and Julie Mehretu: The Mathematics of Droves, White Cube, Sao Paulo, Brazil (2014).

Since the time of her 2000 Grants to Artists award, Mehretu has participated in numerous international exhibitions and biennials including the Whitney Biennial New Orleans Biennale, dOCUMENTA (13), the Biennale of Sydney, The International Biennial of Contemporary Art Foundation of Cartagena, the Moscow Biennale, and the Saõ Paulo Biennial. Mehretu's work has also been included in group exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, Punta della Dogana, St. Louis Art Museum, and Carnegie Museum of Art, among others.

Her work is now in the public collections of Brooklyn Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, Hammer Museum at University of California, Los Angeles, Museum of Modern Art, New Museum, National Gallery of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Philadelphia Art Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Seattle Art Museum, and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among others.

Subsequent to her 2000 FCPA grant, Mehretu has completed residencies at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Studio Museum in Harlem (2001) and the Walker Art Center (2003).She received the Penny McCall Award (2002), The MacArthur Award (2005), The American Art Award granted by the Whitney Museum of American Art (2005), The Rhode Island School of Design Alumni Council Artistic Achievement Award (2006), the Berlin Prize: Guna S. Mundheim Fellowship at The American Academy in Berlin (2007), and the Barnett and Annalee Newman Award (2013). Prior to her 2000 Grants to Artists award, Mehretu was awarded a residency as part of the Glassell School of Art CORE Program (1997-1998).

In 1992 Mehretu earned a B.A. at Kalamazoo College in Michigan and in 1997 she received an M.F.A. with honors in painting and printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design.

An abstract image of a variety of geometric shapes and lines in colors ranging from red, yellow, pink, and blue against a tan background.
Renegade Delirium, 2002, ink and acrylic on canvas, 90" x 144", from FCPA-supported exhibition Julie Mehretu: Drawing into Painting, Walker Art Center. Photo by Stephen White, © Julie Mehretu.
A close up image of a variety of differently colored geometric shapes on top of a tan background with thin black lines and drawings of smoke in thin black on it.
Detail, Renegade Delirium, 2002, ink and acrylic on canvas, 90” x 144”, from FCA-supported exhibition Julie Mehretu: Drawing into Painting, Walker Art Center. Photo by Stephen White, © Julie Mehretu.
Several differently colored shapes are arranged in front of a light blue background. Shapes in green, yellow, orange, and pink are clustered on the left and right edges of the image. On the top of the image, there are red lines angled towards the center of the image. Black curved lines are around the bottom half of the image.
Looking Back to a Bright New Future, 2003, ink and acrylic on canvas, 95" x 119", from FCPA-supported exhibition Julie Mehretu: Drawing into Painting, Walker Art Center. Photo by Cameron Wittig, © Julie Mehretu.
A close up image of shapes against a light blue background. On top of the shapes, a pattern in thin black lines is visible. The black drawing appears almost like an architectural design.
Detail, Looking Back to a Bright New Future, 2003, ink and acrylic on canvas, 95” x 119”, from FCA-supported exhibition Julie Mehretu: Drawing into Painting, Walker Art Center. Photo by Cameron Wittig, © Julie Mehretu.
Several geometric differently colored shapes are arranged on top of a peach background. These shapes are arranged very densely towards the left and right outer edges of the image, leaving a emptier space in the center. A long blue curved line cuts across the center of the image.
Dispersion, 2002, ink and acrylic on canvas, 90" x 144", from FCPA-supported exhibition Julie Mehretu: Drawing into Painting, Walker Art Center. Photo by Erma Estwick, © Julie Mehretu.
A close up image of densely arranged differently colored geometric shapes. On top of these shapes, the light black design of smoke is visible. A blue line cuts across this image.
Detail, Dispersion, 2002, ink and acrylic on canvas, 90” x 144”, from FCA-supported exhibition Julie Mehretu: Drawing into Painting, Walker Art Center. Photo by Erma Estwick, © Julie Mehretu.
A close up image of blue panes against an off white background. These panes are covered by black circular designs like smoke or bubbles and various thin red curves.
Excerpt (riot), 2003, ink and acrylic on canvas, 32" x 54", from FCPA-supported exhibition Julie Mehretu: Drawing into Painting, Walker Art Center. Photo by Erma Estwick, © Julie Mehretu.
A variety of multi-colored lines interject a light blue background. Behind these lines, there are thin black lines and hatch marks.
Excerpt (suspension), 2003 ink and acrylic on canvas, 32" x 54", from FCPA-supported exhibition Julie Mehretu: Drawing into Painting, Walker Art Center. Photo by Erma Estwick, © Julie Mehretu.
A drawing of thin black lines compose a drawing in the center of a tan background intercepted by light pink lines. On the lower left of the drawing, there are rectangles arranged almost like a city. Above these rectangles, the lines are curved suggesting movement.
Excerpt (regiment), 2003, ink and acrylic on canvas, 32" x 54", from FCPA-supported exhibition Julie Mehretu: Drawing into Painting, Walker Art Center. Photo by Erma Estwick, © Julie Mehretu.
Several multi-colored lines are arranged horizontally across a tan and light blue background with small thin black drawings interspersed.
Excerpt (suprematist evasion), 2003, ink and acrylic on canvas, 32" x 54", from FCPA-supported exhibition Julie Mehretu: Drawing into Painting, Walker Art Center. Photo by Erma Estwick, © Julie Mehretu.