JULIE MEHRETU
Epigraph, Damascus, 2016
Photogravure, sugar lift aquatint, spit bite aquatint, open bite. Hahnemühle Bütten 350 gr
6 panels
248 x 574 cm
Edition 10/16 + 2 AP

Julie Mehretu has engaged with printmaking to carry out radical experiments in the composition of images. Investigating various classical and pioneering new techniques has enabled her to reflect her working processes in painting and drawing.

With Epigraph, Damascus, Mehretu has developed a practice and vocabulary that has allowed her to build deep, dark density, combined with an effortless flow, in a composition that goes far beyond traditional printmaking. The six panels that compose the piece were printed from just two plates: a framework of architectural drawings forms the basis for the first plate, which was then composited together with a layer of gestural mark-making made on large sheets of Mylar; the second features Mehretu’s signature painterly gesture: dark, yet soft and light-handed brushstrokes, made in spit bite, sugar lift and open bite directly on the copper plate. All these elements are brought together in the proofing and printing process, creating a work with a unique physical and tactile presence.

As is often the case, the base of this work consists of layered architectural drawings of buildings in Damascus. Columns, arches and porticoes, shown from multiple perspectives, are among the many depicted architectural details of the war-torn city. While political and social elements are unavoidably tied to these architectural forms, Mehretu once described her works as ‘story maps of no location’, manifestations of an imagined rather than actual reality. Deconstructed elements, symbols, from well-known places are fused and new meanings emerge.