Galerie Magazine
Julie Mehretu
PainterMixed MediaPrintmakerKnown for:
Large-scale abstract paintings layering ink, acrylic, and pencil over digitally manipulated imagery and architectural references
Education:
Kalamazoo College (BA, 1992); Rhode Island School of Design (MFA, 1997)
Julie Mehretu is an Ethiopian-American artist born in Addis Ababa in 1970. Her family moved to East Lansing, Michigan in 1977, where her father taught economic geography at Michigan State University. She earned her BA from Kalamazoo College and her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. Mehretu is known for monumental, densely layered paintings that combine digitally manipulated photographic imagery with gestural abstraction, ink drawing, and techniques such as airbrushing, screen-printing, and sanding. She received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2005.
Julie Mehretu's Gear List(3)
Generic
Product description
Acrylic paint — pigment suspended in an acrylic polymer emulsion — dries quickly to a water-resistant finish and can be thinned with water or medium. Introduced commercially in the 1950s, it became the dominant alternative to oil paint for contemporary painters working in flat color, mixed media, and large-scale formats.
Connection note
Medium listed as "ink and acrylic on canvas" across works at Marian Goodman Gallery, MoMA, and the Whitney.
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Product description
A carbon-based drawing ink made from fine soot particles (lampblack or carbon black) suspended in water with a binding agent, traditionally shellac. India ink dries to a permanent, waterproof, deep black finish and works with brushes, dip pens, and technical pens. It has been used for writing and drawing for thousands of years across Asian and Western traditions.
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Last updated March 22, 2026
