0:00:20.960,0:00:24.480
[JULIE MEHRETU] My earlier drawings[br]And paintings had this maplike,

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diagrammatic element to them.

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As the work has shifted to being

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more atmospheric or painterly,

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I refrained from trying to explain what's going on in[br]the paintings as much because

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they're not these kind of[br]rational descriptions or–

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or efforts to articulate something[br]in that way.

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I'm not trying to spell out[br]a story.

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I still think you feel the[br]painting, and the reason you

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read the mark is also because[br]you also feel the mark.

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[soft whirring]

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- So the two projects that[br]we're doing in Berlin: one is

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a work that's about 21 feet by[br]85 feet long, and--one painting.

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And the other is another project[br]where we're doing seven

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paintings that are small[br]in comparison, 10x14 each.

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[airbrush hissing]

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The 21x85-foot painting will[br]take about a year and a half.

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It's really one painting even[br]though there will be either five

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sections or ten sections;

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it functions as one painting.

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The stretchers that we're using

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are not gonna be the stretchers[br]that we're using on-site.

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So these paintings will be taken[br]off of these stretchers, rolled up,

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shipped back, and then[br]restretched at the site.

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- Just watch out for the[br]column, though.

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- The reason that we're in Berlin

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is because Julie's studio[br]in New York can't accommodate

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something of this scale.

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This project just kind of had[br]to dictate where it was gonna be

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more than we were gonna dictate[br]where it was gonna be.

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It's epic.

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This place was three times[br]bigger than what we envisioned.

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So we were able to design all[br]the walls, do whatever we want

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to the spaces, and just have[br]everything that we needed and wanted.

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This is just something that you can't,[br]unfortunately, get in New York.

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So we just took it and[br]ran with it.

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- This project is crazy.

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[chuckles]

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Everything is new: the size,[br]the space, just working in

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a different country, trying to[br]get materials.

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It's just– it's crazy.

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[sprayer hissing]

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We all kind of have our own different jobs that we've kind[br]of developed.

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Mostly I do the surfaces.

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Julie is all for[br]experimentations.

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I started developing this new[br]surface: kind of this, like,

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acrylic-based, almost like[br]absorbent paper surface.

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So she can actually paint on[br]these surfaces almost like

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paper, but they can be[br]any scale.

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[MEHRETU] January of 2007, I was[br]working on some new paintings,

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and in that process, I had been[br]doing a bunch of watercolors.

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When I was working on the watercolors,

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there was this[br]phenomenon that was happening

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in those that I wanted to try[br]and bring into the painting.

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In one painting, it was just not[br]working.

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I kept pushing the color into

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this painting where there'd been[br]this intense amount of drawing

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and this intense action between[br]all these different marks.

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And so at one point, I just[br]started to sand away all the–

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all the color that came[br]into the work.

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And at one point when I had[br]finished sanding it, I turned

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around and looked at it,[br]and it was a finished painting.

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That– it was almost–

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That's when I called it this[br]poltergeist in the work.

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And it became this absence,

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this– the– the erasure itself[br]became the action.

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And it reminded me the caves of

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the Buddhas in Afghanistan once[br]the Taliban removed those

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Buddhas: that image of their absence.

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It was almost that type of[br]feeling to this area in this painting.

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It felt to me to kind of suggest[br]a moment in terms of how

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sad or pessimistic you can feel[br]in a political environment and–

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or kind of historical situation[br]that we're in globally.

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So it felt like this really,[br]you know, kind of hopeful

0:05:12.280,0:05:14.046
gesture in the painting, for me.

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I'm an Ethiopian-American.

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My– you know, a big part of my[br]family is Ethiopian, but I've

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been in the states since I was six.

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I was raised in Michigan.

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I live in New York City,[br]for the most part.

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I'm in Berlin now.

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But, I mean, when I move around

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the world, I move around the[br]world as an American.

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Being a citizen of the United[br]States or of any one in the

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European Union, you are[br]a citizen of incredible privilege.

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I think anyone who is aware of[br]that, you have to have some responsibility.

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- We basically have a plan[br]from Julie that has these

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multi-layers of shapes and[br]line work and these forms that

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she's gotten from different[br]areas, and for us to be able

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to actually replicate that[br]successfully, we then have to

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take it and just say,[br]"All right, well, this shape,

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this shape, this shape is under[br]these ten shapes, which are

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under these five shapes but are[br]above these six shapes."

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And then layer by layer, we'll

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project and, you know, mask and[br]paint or airbrush or draw,

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however we can, get her original[br]source up onto the surface.

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So sometimes it can be a simple

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composition that we only have[br]to break apart into three or

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four layers, or sometimes it'll[br]be a detailed composition

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that we have break into[br]15, 20 sublayers.

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[indistinct conversation]

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[MEHRETU] For this next show, which is[br]for the Guggenheim, I'm making

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seven paintings that are 10 feet[br]by 14 feet.

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Many parts of the drawing[br]will also be erased.

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So the paintings will build up,[br]and then a big portion of them

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somehow or another will disappear.

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So then hopefully, the paintings

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will also just interact to talk[br]about disintegration.

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I try to start the group of[br]paintings with each having their

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own kind of architectural[br]information.

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This piece right now, it's just[br]different views from Google Earth,

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you know, of New York City[br]and Tokyo.

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Basically, it's tracing, because

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that takes so long, and a lot of[br]the stuff that the assistants do,

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it becomes a ground for my work.

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I'm so blessed to have such[br]a great team.

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This would be a nightmare if it[br]wasn't such a great group of people.

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The difficult part is, we have[br]not that much time.

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we have a year from now.

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And we have to trust the process

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and trust the intuition and[br]trust– and trust that hopefully

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it manifests itself, and we'll–[br]and that I'll be able to make

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these pictures work, I mean,[br]because after the initial work

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is done by everyone else,[br]it’s up to me to really go in

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and draw on all of them[br]and complete them.

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[indistinct conversations]

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The large commission has[br]a really specific point of

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departure in terms of what it's[br]conceptually trying to deal with

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if you're gonna make a picture[br]of that scale and embed that and

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locate that in Lower Manhattan,[br]which is where it's commissioned for,

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can you deal, then, with[br]what Lower Manhattan symbolizes?

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It's something that's been[br]a big part of trying to figure out

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who I am and my work,[br]is trying understand systems.

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What you've seen here is only[br]the first layer of information,

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and that first layer of[br]information is hopefully

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something that mimics early maps[br]from the early silk road

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through the evolution of the[br]marketplace.

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Can you actually make a picture[br]that in some way maps and gives

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a picture of this history of the[br]development of– you know,

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capitalist development,[br]economic system?

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Which is absurd. It's–[br][chuckles]

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- Can you separate it out?[br]- That I can.

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- No, but if they just draw–

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Like just draw these[br]little sections.

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-Right.[br]-You know what I mean?

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You can't tell what's what, then.

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That whole–[br]what it does is, it just builds

0:10:02.760,0:10:06.253
like these plateaus of space.[br]it creates a space.

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[machine rumbles][br]-[speaks indistinctly]

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- That kind of drawing,[br]but I think that if you had it

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with no recognizable[br]buildings whatsoever--[br]- No.

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[JESSICA RANKIN] I think inevitably as an[br]artist couple, you're gonna

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impact each other and influence[br]each other and...

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- It's, like, about, like,[br]fragmented space,

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and then so much of[br]that is like...

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[RANKIN] I mean, we've always worked

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that way, ever since we first[br]started living and working

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together, eight years ago now.

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We've- -it's just a very organic process,

0:10:32.080,0:10:34.240
and that's sort of the[br]way we lead our lives.

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And in New York, our studios[br]are in our house, so until,

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you know, recently– our son[br]started going to school

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recently, but he was in and out[br]of our studio all day too.

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And it's– you know, we look at[br]each other's work all day.

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We sort of give each other[br]feedback.

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We notice something in the[br]newspaper and mention it.

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I mean, it just– it's sort of,[br]I don't know– it's been–

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it's grown organically, and[br]that's– it really works for us.

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[MEHRETU] There is a lot of fluidity[br]between us.

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There are moments where her work

0:11:16.680,0:11:19.307
seeps through my work and[br]in and out of it.

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We look at each other's work

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more than anybody else's work,[br]and so that has to happen.

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Almost anything in the[br]environment tends to inform

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your work, for me, in one way[br]or another.

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Different studios have done that[br]for my work as well.

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Different– different–

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living in different places,[br]whether it's a place that has

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A view or no view, it all–[br]kind of that space and

0:11:42.760,0:11:47.320
the light, all of those elements[br]affect, for me, a big part of

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the way that I end up evolving[br]with the work.

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The thing that keeps me going is[br]the painting,

0:11:59.200,0:12:02.849
And in getting lost in doing[br]that, language is invented.

0:12:06.400,0:12:09.360
A way of working in the language[br]has evolved for the last–

0:12:09.360,0:12:12.000
through the last ten years,[br]but the paintings have changed

0:12:12.000,0:12:16.178
every year through that, slowly,[br]because painting is slow.

0:12:19.706,0:12:22.880
In the end, it's about trying to[br]make the painting.

0:13:03.304,0:13:07.372
[ ANNOUNCER ] To learn more about Art21: "Art in the Twenty-First Century"

0:13:07.372,0:13:09.625
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0:13:09.625,0:13:12.996
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0:13:16.483,0:13:22.326
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0:13:22.326,0:13:24.435
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0:13:24.435,0:13:27.761
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0:13:27.761,0:13:31.828
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