JULIE MEHRETU

Julie Mehretu: A Transcore of the Radical Imaginatory charts Mehretu’s continually evolving investigations into the possibilities of abstraction and its vocabulary of mark making, from her earliest works on paper, to her experimental printmaking and most recent paintings.

The MCA Australia exhibition charts an explosively experimental period in Mehretu’s art and includes more than 80 works by the artist including significant loans from public and private collections. The exhibition features 36 paintings completed by the artist between 2017 and 2024 alongside several major new painting cycles completed in 2023 and 2024. Many works are presented to the public for the first time, including Mehretu’s most recent TRANSpaintings, while over 50 works on paper from the mid 1990’s to now, offer a retrospective of the foundational role of drawing and printmaking in the artist’s practice.

Among the exhibition’s highlights are Femenine in nine (2023-2024), a cycle of exuberant black paintings inscribed with iridescent gestural marks. Named after the 1974 musical composition by Julius Eastman, they offer a visual and sonic meditation on conditions of darkness and instability that define the contemporary moment.

Also featured are the TRANSpaintings (2023–2024), seven of which are presented for the first time. Supported by the sculptures Upright Brackets by Berlin-based sculptor Nairy Baghramian, these freestanding paintings are physically and visually dynamic and propose an experience of painting as both embodied and participatory.

A new 224-page publication Julie Mehretu: A Transcore of the Radical Imaginatory published by MCA Australia to coincide with the exhibition, features a comprehensive overview of works in the exhibition, with contributions from American author and rock writer Erik Morse, Suzanne Cotter and a conversation between Mehretu, Australian artist Daniel Boyd and Jane Devery. The catalogue is available to purchase from the MCA store and online.

Julie Mehretu: A Transcore of the Radical Imaginatory is curated by Suzanne Cotter, MCA Australia Director, with Jane Devery, MCA Australia Senior Curator Exhibitions, and runs until 27 April 2025.