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Retopistics: A Renegade Excavation

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Photography by Edward C. Robison III.
Retopistics: A Renegade Excavation
Photography by Edward C. Robison III.

Retopistics: A Renegade Excavation

Artist (born 1970)
Date2001
MediumInk and acrylic on canvas
Dimensions101 1/2 in. × 17ft. 4 1/2 in. × 2 in. (257.8 × 529.6 × 5.1 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2013.28
Accession number 2013.28
On View
On view
Collections
Provenanceto (The Project, New York, NY); to Dimitris Daskalopoulos, Athens, Greece, 2001; to (Christie’s, New York, NY), May 15, 2013, sale 2785, lot 52; purchased by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, 2013
Label TextSweeping red curves encircle a tornado of squiggly, hand-drawn marks. Thin blue lines jut through flat blobs of traffic-cone orange. Inspired by studying the dynamic spaces of airports, Julie Mehretu carefully layered different kinds of marks, one atop the next, with acrylic paint and streams of ink that combine to create the illusion of motion in an immense, stadium-like environment. For the artist, these marks represent characters, each with its own identity and agency, responding to an ever-changing world.

Amplias curvas rojas rodean a un tornado de marcas ondulantes dibujadas a mano. Delgadas líneas azules sobresalen y atraviesan manchas planas de color naranja brillante como de cono vial. Inspirada en el estudio de los espacios dinámicos de los aeropuertos, Julie Mehretu aplicó cuidadosamente, por capas, diferentes tipos de marcas, unas encima de las otras, con pintura acrílica y chorros de tinta que se mezclan para crear la ilusión de movimiento dentro de un inmenso ambiente parecido al de un estadio. Para la artista, estas marcas representan personajes, cada uno con su propia identidad y voluntad, respondiendo a un mundo en constante cambio.
Photography by Edward C. Robison III.
Kay WalkingStick
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Jiha Moon
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Photography by Edward C. Robison III.
George Wesley Bellows
1908
Arrangement 1
Jimmy Baker
2013
Arrangement 2
Jimmy Baker
2013
Photography by Edward C. Robison III.
Jimmy Baker
2013
Arrangement 3
Jimmy Baker
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Arrangement 4
Jimmy Baker
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1959