Julie Mehretu is having a golden year. In March, the Ethiopian-born New Yorker opened her biggest show to date at Venice’s lush Palazzo Grassi art museum, owned by French luxury goods billionaire turned art collector Francois Pinault. The 53-year-old then swiftly moved back to work on the design and execution of 35 abstract, painted glass panels for the Obama Presidential Centre, a new museum that will anchor a sprawling 19-hectare urban renewal project in Chicago’s historic Jackson Park.
Both ventures have been labours of love for the abstract painter. Mehretu is a favourite of former president Barack Obama, who described her “on point” stained-glass design as one of “the most important aspects” of the library and museum civic complex being constructed in his honour. This workload explains why, when we catch up via a Zoom call to Mehretu’s New York studio, the protostar of the international art world is still finishing new paintings destined for what will be her debut solo survey exhibition in Australia at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art this summer.
Mehretu exudes calm, or possibly tired distraction at the end of a day in the studio. It’s early morning in Sydney and after 5pm in New York. There’s a hint of busyness in the background, with an assistant off-screen who occasionally prompts her when she cannot find the word she is looking for or needs to clarify a detail.
The act of balancing the presentation and promotion of her art with time working in.