Mural

Mural is a 2009 large-scale mural painting made using ink and acrylic on canvas by the contemporary Ethiopian American visual artist Julie Mehretu. The work was commissioned in 2007 by the American investment bank Goldman Sachs for the lobby of its new headquarters at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan. Measuring 23 feet by 80 feet, the painting consists of a dynamic arrangement of intersecting abstract forms executed with the use of 215 colors, which draw upon images of trade routes, maps, and photographs related to the history of global economies and the financial industry. Mehretu's concept for the design of the work was influenced by French scholar Fernand Braudel's extensive historical account of Western capitalism, while the densely layered and contrasting forms interwoven into the composition of Mural allude to capitalism's complex, self-sustaining nature and illustrate the process of mapping "the whirl of global trade and communications". Mehretu's Mural, completed in 2009, cost , primarily spent on fabrication costs and salaries for an extensive team of studio assistants. The artwork, while located in a private building, is visible from the street through the glass-walled lobby facing West Street, leading several art historians and critics to view it as public art. As Mehretu is openly gay and a woman of color, the commission of the mural has been interpreted as an example of modern corporate patronage promoting social and cultural diversity. At the same time, the work has faced controversy, particularly regarding Goldman Sachs' role in the 2008 financial crisis and its intention to commission a well-known minority artist to improve its public image. It has also been criticized for failing to become an actual example of public art due to the building's interiors being off limits to the members of the general public. Mehretu herself has described Mural as a "time capsule" of her artistic practice up until that point. The work is considered to be one of her best-known paintings. Background