Sapphic Strophe 4 (from Sapphic Strophes: A Suite of Four Prints), 2011

Born in Ethiopia, Michigan painter Julie Mehretu rose out of obscurity after 2000 with her abstract cityscapes that encompass history and geography into their wild yet intricate layers. Mehretu's paintings are generally large in scale and feature frenetic outlines and cross-sections of known or unknown cities in concrete gray tones. These "blueprints" are extensively overlapped by bold, often colorful lines and geometric shapes that appear to dash across, curve around, or burst through the canvas. The dynamic lines suggest the movement of objects and time, as Mehretu attempts to compress the complex history and numerous elements of "place" -- whether the place is historic or futuristic, real or imaginary -- into each two-dimensional image using traditional pencil, pen, and acrylic paint. Mehretu applies the layers of paint with tools equally varied: hands, brushes, towels, and so on.With the abstract expressionist artist as city planner, these multilayered plans or maps of cities come to resemble even more so the graffitiubiquitous to the urban landscape. Mehretu received an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design in Rhode Island.Two of her largest works, "Empiricial Construction, Istanbul" (which measures 10 feet by 15 feet) and "Mural" (23 feet by 80 feet) are housed at the Museum of Modern Art and at Goldman Sachs, respectively, in New York.