Julie Mehretu: Grey Area

American artist Julie Mehretu is celebrated for her large-scale paintings and drawings that layer abstract forms with familiar architectural imagery. Inspired by historical photographs, urban-planning grids, modernist structures and graffiti, these semi-abstract works explore the intersections of power, history, dystopia and the built environment, and their impact on identity formation. This volume marks the exhibition of a new series of works commissioned by Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin. In conjunction with this project, Mehretu established a studio in Berlin where she produced a remarkable suite of paintings that deal with erasure and decay. Addressing what it means to be an American artist in Germany during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars under the Bush administration, Mehretu's canvases meditate on the idea of the modern ruin. Featuring essays by Joan Young and Brian Dillon, this monograph includes a section of photographs tracing the development of the series in the artist's Berlin studio.