Julie Mehretu-Revisited

As usual, they are doing something interesting over at Art:21.  A recent post about visual artist, Julie Mehretu entitled "Workday" made me think of a previous post I shared with you last February. Watch this short video clip of the artist is her studio preparing for a big exhibition.

"Filmed in her Berlin studio, Julie Mehretu discusses the ups and downs of her daily studio practice. Mehretu is shown working on the painting Middle Grey (2007-2009), one work in a suite of seven paintings commissioned by the Deutsche Guggenheim as part of the exhibition Julie Mehretu: Grey Area, which travels to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York later this year (May 14 – October 6, 2010)".

-Art:21 

Talk about scale! Having the time to do work of that size really is a goal of mine.    I recently read in Joe Fig's book, "Inside the Painter's Studio" , a little about her personal life.  She and her partner (artist, Jessica Rankin) have a son.

The fact that she's a parent and still has that type of time to intensely concentrate on her work really gives me hope. I'm always curious about how people do it or at least try to do it.....balance their work life with their home life. For artists, it is very difficult because art can be so consuming. For women who are mothers and artists, it can be tremendously difficult.

To learn more about Mehretu and  her work visit my previous post where there's another video of her discussing her printmaking work at Crown Point Press in San Francisco, CA.

Or check out these book available at Amazon.com.
Julie Mehretu: The Drawings
Julie Mehretu: Black City