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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Julie Mehretu

Mar 25 – Sept 18, 2021
535 W 24th St, New York, NY 10011, United States

In 2008, when Barack Obama was still a senator, Julie Mehretu was at Gemini G.E.L., where she made a drypoint etching on woven paper titled Amulets—a good luck charm. She donated the funds from the sale to Obama’s presidential campaign. Every piece Mehretu printed at Gemini G.E.L. is now on display in the workshop. Although Mehretu is known as a painter, this show exclusively features her prints, which employ etching techniques from drypoint to spit-bite, and have grown larger over time. Included here are three large-scale print projects—wall-spanning pieces with Mehretu’s signature loose lines and layers of abstract signs, maps, and architectural imagery. —J.D.

Julie Mehretu, “Untitled (Amulets),” 2008 © Julie Mehretu and Gemini G.E.L.