The investigation of making is illuminating towards that moment rather than the other way around, a reversal of the way that I would approach making a painting before. I think that it gets to a richer illumination of the moment, which is what I was trying to do at the beginning but going about it a little backwards.
Julie MehretuI don't ever work in a way where something is an illustration of an event, but when something is occurring at the same time I see it as very informed by that.
Julie MehretuI always wanted to be an artist, but I didn't really know how someone could make a life out it.
Julie MehretuWhen you're not a mom, you can get up in the middle of the night, paint, sleep all morning... you can't do that when you have two children!
Julie MehretuI'm not trying to spell out a story. I still think you feel the painting, and the reason you read the mark is because you also feel the mark.
Julie MehretuThe erasure itself became the action. It seemed to suggest a moment in terms of how sad or pessimistic you can feel in a political environment or a historical situation. But it felt like a really hopeful gesture in the painting.
Julie MehretuPeople look at film in a gallery, and if they walk out after two minutes they know they haven't seen the whole work. But then people look at a painting for two minutes and think they've seen it. Certain paintings are made to be consumed fast. But some require a slowed-down time. You have to go back to them.
Julie Mehretu