Oxy Live! Julie Mehretu in Conversation with Paul Holdengräber (2/21/2024)

Julie Mehretu is a world-renowned painter who lives and works in New York City. Her art is featured in the Smithsonian, LACMA, MOMA, The Broad, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Guggenheim, the Met, the Tate, the Whitney, and many other leading museums. She is Sotheby’s Top-selling African Artist of all Time (2023), and Time magazine named her to its 100 Most Influential People in 2020. Mehretu’s paintings, drawings, and prints depict the cumulative effects of urban sociopolitical changes. Originally from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, her work has been exhibited extensively and is represented in collections worldwide. She is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship (2005) and the U.S. Department of State Medal of Arts (2015). Mehretu is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and National Academy of Design. Her artwork also will be on display at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in June 2024, as a BMW curated artist for its M Hybrid V8. Mehretu earned her master of fine arts from the Rhode Island School of Design. Marian Goodman Gallery is Mehretu’s global representative. Paul Holdengräber is an interviewer and curator. He was the Founding Executive Director of Onassis Los Angeles (OLA). Previously, and for 14 years, he was Founder and Director of The New York Public Library's "LIVE From the NYPL" cultural series where he interviewed and hosted over 600 events, holding conversations with everyone form Patti Smith to Zadie Smith, Rick Jay to Jay-Z, Errol Morris to Jan Morris, We Anderson to Helen Mirren, Werner Herzog to Mike Tyson. Before his tenure at the Library, Holdengräber was the Founder and Director of "The Institute for Art & Cultures" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and a Fellow at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles. Oxy Live! is presented by Occidental College, OXY ARTS and LAist Official, and made possible by a generous gift from Oxy Alumna Lisa Coscino ('85')