The Palazzo Grassi presents a major exhibition of the work of Julie Mehretu, curated by Caroline Bourgeois in collaboration with the artist. The exhibition also features works by artists who are part of Mehretu's circle of close friends and influential interlocutors.

The exhibition brings together a selection of more than sixty paintings and prints by Mehretu produced over a period of twenty-five years, including some of her most recent canvases produced between 2021 and 2023. Presented on both floors of Palazzo Grassi, the exhibition includes works from the Pinault Collection as well as loans from the artist's collection, international museums and private collections.

The works of Mehretu are presented alongside those of artists and authors Nairy Baghramian, Huma Bhabha, Robin Coste Lewis, Tacita Dean, David Hammons, Paul Pfeiffer and Jessica Rankin, thus bringing the field of painting into dialogue with those of poetry, sculpture, film, voice and music. Mehretu's artistic practice has always taken the form of various forms of collaboration and exchanges with other artists. By highlighting the relationships that exist between intellectual and emotional affinities and artistic creation, the exhibition paints a collective portrait of an artistic community in constant dialogue.

Mehretu's work is abstract. Her compositions, sensual and full of emotion, are distinguished by the inventiveness of the marks which cover them, taking the form of palimpsests, and which emanate from a host of complex ideas arising from her long-standing engagement with traditions and the traces of history and photography. Her references are vast, drawing from art history as well as the socio-political domain, geography, current events and her own experiences. Her insistence on developing an abstract language, however, offered her a unique emancipatory space to experiment and express herself freely.

In cooperation with K21 — Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen (Düsseldorf) which will present the exhibition in 2025.

Installation views: Julie Mehretu: Ensemble, 2024, Palazzo Grassi, Venezia. Ph. Marco Cappelletti © Palazzo Grassi, Pinault Collection