Mokha Laget "Polychrome Polygons"

MOKHA LAGET Polychrome Polygons

DAVID RICHARD GALLERY

Front cover: Installation - Mokha Laget, Watershed, 2018, Acrylic and flashe on shaped canvas, 68” x 149” x 2” Title page: Installation - Mokha Laget, Signal Drift, 2018, Acrylic and flashe on shaped canvas, 108” x 108” x 2” Back cover: Installation - Mokha Laget, In The Offing, 2019, Acrylic and flashe on shaped canvas, 62.5” x 54” x 2”

Printed on the occasion of the exhibition Mokha Laget’s Polychrome Polygons at David Richard Gallery June 12, 2019 - July 13, 2019

Published by: David Richard Gallery, LLC, 211 East 121st Street, New York, NY 10035 www.DavidRichardGallery.com 212-882-1705 | 505-983-9555 DavidRichardGalleries DavidRichardGallery Gallery Staff: David Eichholtz and Richard Barger, Managers

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Artwork: © 2017 - 2019 Mokha Laget Catalogue: © 2019 David Richard Gallery, LLC, New York, NY

Catalogue Design: David Eichholtz and Richard Barger, David Richard Gallery, LLC, New York, NY Images: © 2019 David Richard Gallery, LLC, New York, NY Images: Yao Zu Lu

DAVID RICHARD GALLERY

MOKHA LAGET Polychrome Polygons

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Polychrome Polygons, an exhibition of new paintings on shaped-canvases by Mokha Laget and her second solo exhibition with the gallery. These paintings continue to push the boundaries of visual perception, tempting the viewer into the possibility that a third-dimensionality or monumentality exists. The use of saturated flat colors on overlapping planes of extreme and perspectival shapes combined with correlative shifts of the outer perimeters disrupts the traditional notion of geometric painting. The internal tension and discordant compositions create the illusion of space, depth and volume and thus, actively challenge the viewer’s experience. Laget furthers her mastery of blending formal concerns through thoughtful color adjacency and an intuitive sense of spatial geometry on a two-dimensional picture plane.

Laget’s paintings are rooted first and foremost in color and color theory. The artist pairs an innate color memory with an intuitive sense of corresponding hues to leverage her work in visual dimensionality. “I have near perfect recall to match the colors in my mind, like perfect ear pitch for sound,” the artist states. Laget’s paintings are distinctive for their impeccable surfaces, built up with multiple layers of paint yielding a perfect flatness. Relying on perspective, extreme vector geometry, and the oscillation of color temperature through adjacency, Laget conveys a sense of volume and illusory space by keying up the internal compositional dynamics in conjunction with the shape of the canvas’ outer perimeter. Her approach is clean, reductive and elegant.

The nine large paintings in this presentation carry forward her synergistic approach toward color, geometric abstraction, hard edge painting, Color Field painting and architecture. She is able to translate her passion and knowledge of Color Field painting to devise object-like surfaces with multiple layers of flat pigment on an unprimed support in perfectly smooth and matte expanses of chromatic arrangements. These rich depths of color reference her youth in Northern Africa as well as a lifetime of international travel.

The land, its topography and interaction with light continues to spark the artist’s keen color sensibility with lush palettes. Laget’s ongoing interest in architecture also provides her with the knowledge and skill to scale her compositions from 20 to 240 inches and beyond; they convey evocations of portals, passages and cantilevered overhangs.

This exhibition also includes a selection from a new series of small paintings on linen that measure 12 to16 inches in size, the Capriccio paintings. These small works reference the imaginary architectural landscapes of the 19th century in their complex yet free arrangement of geometric shapes. Like the larger shaped canvases, they are spatial and architectural in nature, but operate more like a language with an underlying syntax. The artist begins with very few specific lines to hinge the first shapes—they are no longer tied to the grid. The shapes are arranged like abstract scenery or visual poems emerging purely from an intuition of the right proportions and formal dynamics. “These paintings follow no particular strategy but rather my internal compass where each new shape grows and develops organically from its own dynamics, like cloud formations.” They address complex relationships of form and color like the rich and diverse language of a contemporary choreography. There is no symmetry, no gravity yet the works are in movement, elegant and balanced. They operate between silence and sensation.

David Eichholtz

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Mokha Laget Slipstream, 2018 Acrylic and flashe on shaped canvas 63” x 70” x 2”

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Mokha Laget Watershed, 2018 Acrylic and flashe on shaped canvas 68” x 149” x 2”

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Mokha Laget Evenfall, 2019 Acrylic and flashe on shaped canvas 29” x 36” x 2”

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Mokha Laget For Instance, 2019 Acrylic and flashe on shaped canvas 36” x 48” x 2”

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Mokha Laget Signal Drift, 2018 Acrylic and flashe on shaped canvas 108” x 108” x 2”

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Mokha Laget Seesaw 2, 2017 Flashe and pigment on shaped canvas 32” x 20” x 1”

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Mokha Laget In The Offing, 2019 Acrylic and flashe on shaped canvas 62.5” x 54” x 2”

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Mokha Laget Forthcoming, 2019 Acrylic and flashe on shaped canvas 45” x 36” x 2”

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Mokha Laget Bow, 2017 Acrylic and flashe on shaped canvas 51” x 86” x 2”

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Mokha Laget Seldom Still, 2019 Acrylic and flashe on shaped canvas 40” x 63” x 2”

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Mokha Laget Capriccio IV, 2019 Acrylic gouache on linen 16” x 12” Capriccio VIII, 2019 Acrylic gouache on linen 16” x 12”

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Mokha Laget Capriccio II, 2019 Acrylic gouache on linen 16” x 12” Capriccio III, 2019 Acrylic gouache on linen 16” x 12”

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Mokha Laget Capriccio V, 2019 Acrylic gouache on linen 16” x 12”

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Mokha Laget Capriccio VI, 2019 Acrylic gouache on linen 12” x 16” Capriccio X, 2019 Acrylic gouache on linen 12” x 16”

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Mokha Laget Upwind, 2017 Flashe and pigment on shaped canvas 57.75” x 39” x 2”

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Mokha Laget Vertex, 2017 Flashe and pigment on shaped canvas 36” x 24” x 1”

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Mokha Laget Off The Grid, 2016 Lithography on Rives BFK paper 19.75” x 22”

Mokha Laget is an international artist with European roots, who lives and works in Santa Fe, NM. In addition to her career as an artist, Ms. Laget has worked for the last 20 years as a simultaneous French language interpreter for international delegations coming to the US or international conferences abroad, as well as Program Coordinator with Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2019 New Mexico Museum of Art, Alcoves 2020 (forthcoming) Santa Fe, NM

David Richard Gallery, Polychrome Polygons New York, NY

Brian Gross Fine Art, Spatial Chromatics San Francisco, CA

(catalog essay by Eleanor Heartney) 2018 Louis Stern Fine Art, Recent Work Los Angeles, CA

(Catalog essay by Suzanne Muchnic)

Sonja Roesch Gallery, Spatial Luminance Houston, TX 2017 David Richard Gallery, In Shape, In Color

Santa Fe, NM

(Catalog essays by William Peterson and Nancy Zastudil) 2016 Museum of Geometric Art, Color into Space Dallas, TX

(Catalog essays by Eleanor Heartney & Steve Naifeh) 2014 Sonja Roesch Gallery, Chromatic Constructs Houston, TX 2013 Peyton Wright Gallery, Color Walk

Santa Fe, NM 2010 Center for Contemporary Art, Crux

Santa Fe, NM 2002 Peyton Wright Gallery, Sub Rosa

Santa Fe, NM 2000 Peyton Wright Gallery, Codes and Notations Santa Fe, NM 1999 Whelan Gallery, More Poetics of Noumenalism Santa Fe, NM 1998 David Adamson Gallery, Circumnavigations

Washington, DC 1994 Rosenberg Gallery, Goucher College, Schemata

Baltimore, MD 1991 Franz Bader Gallery, Morphologies Washington, DC 1990 IFRU, Galerie Matisse, Materia Prima London, UK

Galerie Métamorphose, Archéographies Paris, France 1989 The Kunstraum, Dream Poetics Washington, DC 1988 Carega Gallery, Threads & Labyrinths Washington, DC 1987 Carega Gallery, Impulse & Reverie Washington, DC SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2018 Brady Gallery at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC Full Circle: Hue and Saturation in the Washington Color School Salon des Réalités Nouvelles Paris, France 2017 Meyer Zafrani Gallery, Fall Show Paris, France

Salon des Réalités Nouvelles

Paris, France

Peyton Wright Gallery, The Shapeshifters

Santa Fe, NM

Museum of Geometric & Madi Art, Origins in Geometry Dallas, TX

Art Academy of Lecce, Madi: Matter in time Lecce, Italy

University of Texas, The Shape and the Colour Amarillo, TX 2016 Galveston Arts Center, The Shape of Things to Come Galveston,TX

Chicago Art Fair exhibited by Landfall Press 2015 Peyton Wright Gallery, Symphony of Color

Santa Fe, NM

TCAF exhibited by Sonja Roesch Gallery

Houston, TX

Petit Palais, Salon des Arts Contemporains

aris, France 2014 IFPDA exhibited by Landfall Press

New York City, NY

TCAF exhibited by Sonja Roesch, Gallery

Houston, TX

Santa Fe Art Fair exhibited by Landfall Press Santa Fe, NM

Katzen Art Center at AU Museum, Washington DC Washington Art Matters 1940-1980

Select Fair NYC exhibited by UNIT

New York City, NY 2013 Santa Fe Arts Commission, The Enduring Modernist Aesthetics in NM

Santa Fe, NM

Petit Palais, Salon d’Automne: L’Alternative Paris, France 2011 Biennale of Art and Literature II Cairo, Egypt

Centro UNESCO de Sarria, Salon de Sarria VI Galicia, Spain

Art Sun Shiwory Gallery, Tohoku Relief Kurashiki, Japan

Salon Espace Champerret, Libre comme l’Art Paris, France 2007 Florence Biennale of Contemporary Art, Florence, Italy 2006 Centre d’Art Contemporain Chamalières, France

Espace Montreuil, Salon d’Automne

Paris, France 2002 Corcoran Gallery of Art, BFA 25 Washington DC

Grand Palais, Salon d’Automne Paris, France 1999 David Adamson Gallery, Objects of Desire

Washington DC 1997 Center for Creative Leadership, In Print Greensboro, NC 1995 Troyer Fitzpatrick Lassman, Gallery Selection Washington DC 1992 Corcoran Gallery of Art, Hemicycle Inaugural Exhibit Washington DC

American University Museum, Revered Earth Washington DC 1991 Gallery K, Gallery Artists

London, UK 1990 Provincetown Art Museum, Solstice

Provincetown, MA 1989 Musée du Luxembourg, Three Americas Paris, France

BC Space, Art of the Matter Laguna Beach, CA

Window Box Gallery, Torn Visions

New York City, NY

Billman Gallery, Chromatic Inversions Los Angeles, CA 1986 West Gallery, Handmade Books Denton, TX

Tallahassee Institute for Contemporary Art, Four Arts Tallahassee, FL

The Arts Center, Fiber X

Iowa City, IA

Del Bello Gallery

Toronto, Canada 1984 NY-DC Collaboration with Gene Davis, The Ritz Washington, DC

The 16th Note, InterDada

San Francisco, CA 1981 Jack Rasmussen Gallery, Post Lateralism

Washington, DC AWARDS & RESIDENCIES 2019 Artist grant, Pollock-Krasner Foundation

Artist-in-residence, Green Olive Arts, Morocco (forthcoming) 2018 Artist-in-residence, Sam and Adele Golden Foundation, NY EDUCATION 2004 University of California Hayward, Graduate Study in Museum Studies 1992 CCI, Georgetown University School of Linguistics, Washington DC

Graduate Degrees Interpreting and Translation (E-F-S) 1982 BFA Corcoran School of Art, Washington DC

DEUG Anglo-American Literature and Civilization, University of Caen, France

Undergraduate Studies, Art and Anthropology, Montgomery College, Maryland 1981 Atelier Pierre Brignol, Lauragais, France COMMISSIONS & EDITIONS 2017 Johnson Law Group, Southern Wing Dallas, TX

The Medical Center, Springboard West Dallas, TX

Off the Grid, Portfolio of 7 Lithographs, ed. 30, Landfall Press Santa Fe, NM 2016 Department of State, Art in Embassies, Northern Light Nouakchott, Mauritania 2015 Pliage, Hand pulled Lithograph, ed. 20, Landfall Press Santa Fe, NM 2014 Homage to the Wedge, Lithograph, ed. 20, Landfall Press Santa Fe, NM

Blackjack, Hand pulled Lithograph, ed. 40, Landfall Press Santa Fe, NM 2007 DCAH Public Art Commission, Color Field Remix on 8th St Washington, DC COLLABORATIVE WORK 2017 Guest Curator, Museum of Geometric & Madi Art, Joel Froment & Elvira Daeter (catalog) 2018 Reviewer, Anne Truitt at the NGA, The New Art Examiner 2017 Guest Curator, Museum of Geometric & Madi Art, Poetic Densities: Froment

& Daeter (catalog)

Program Coordinator, Council on International Relations, Santa Fe, NM 2013 Tupelo Press Poetry Residency, Truchas, NM 2012 Interview: Talking art criticism with Derek Guthrie, THE Magazine/Sept.

Santa Fe, NM 2009 Catalog essay, Derek Guthrie at Finlandia University, MI 2008 Performer, WaterWeavingWomen, w/ D. Mazeaud & E. Wiseman, Santa Fe, NM 2004-2012 Art Restoration Specialist, Majuka Studios, La Cienega, NM 2004-6

Assistant Curator, New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM 2003-4

Archival Intern, New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM 1999

Translator (into English) Le Livre de Saphir by G. Sinoué (Amarna Books)

1993 Translator (into French) Buddhism, Wisdom and Faith (Sutra Committee, Canada) 1992 Project Coordinator, Contemporary Art Exchange US/Africa 1991 Performer, Resonant Environment, R. Butler, McLean Project for the Arts, VA

Curator, Metaphoric Structures, Strathmore Hall Arts Center, MD 1990

Fine Arts Instructor, Maryland College of Arts & Design Vision and Revision in DC Art by Mokha Laget, The New Art Examiner,

Feb 1990, p. 30-34.

Curator, Detritus & the Poetics of Noumenalism, Gallery 10, WDC 1991 Metaphoric Structures: Science, Symbols & Matter, Catalog essay,

Strathmore Hall Arts Center, Rockville, MD 1989 Co Chair, The Artists Congress, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC

CoCurator with J.W. Mahoney, Elegies, Tartt Gallery, Washington, DC

Co Chair-Coalition of Washington Artists, WDC 1988 Exhibition Specialist- National Museum of American Art & The National Learning Center

Curator, Permanent Collection Community Center for Creative Non-Violence, WDC 1986-88 Public Relations Director, Gallery 10, Washington, DC 1985-6 Archival Specialist-Artists Estates, Washington, DC 1984-91 Theatre: Set Designer, Performer, Stage Director, Washington, DC 1981-4 Studio Assistant to Gene Davis, Washington Color School Painter, Washington, DC BIBLIOGRAPHY o Visually Displaced, Emily Van Cleve, Santa Fe Arts Journal, Santa Fe, NM September 2017 o In Shape, In Color, Exhibition Catalogue, David Richard Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, Sept 2017 o Smithsonian Institution, January, 2017 http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithso nian-institution/painter-who-earned-his-stripes-180961348/?utm_source= facebook.com&utm_medium=socialmedia o July 18, 2017 http://artdaily.com/news/97340/Exhibition-explores-paintings-by-20th and-21st-century-artists-who-work-with-the-shaped-canvas#.WW2XQNPyuc0 o Madi Materia nel tempo, ExConservatorio de Lecce, Italy, Exhibition Catalog with

texts by Carmelo Cipriani, Bica and Laura Cristina Costanzo, May 2017 o Color Into Space, Catalogue, Museum of Geometric and Madi Art, Dallas, TX o Mokha Laget: Color into Space, Sarah Burgos, Dallas Morning News, July 29, 2016 o Texas Arts & Culture o Where Magazine TEXAS o Mokha Laget: Color in Space, Artslant.com July 2016 o Mokha Laget’s Poetics of Color (feature), TREND MAGAZINE, Summer 2014 o Eyesight Alone: Clement Greenberg’s Modernism, Caroline A. Jones, (Laget citation) o http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/visual-arts/2014/03/14/ washington-art-matters-ii-reviewed/ o Washington Art Matters: Art life in the Capital, 1940–1990, Jean Lawlor Cohen, Ed.

2013 o Implied Spaces, Michael Abatemarco, Pasatiempo, The NEW MEXICAN, July 5, 2013 o Mokha Laget’s Colorful Works, ARTDAILY.COM, 6/6 2013 o Art in Review, Douglas Fairfield, The NEW MEXICAN, May 10-16, 2013 o Cumulus Skies, Jon Carver, THE Magazine, May, 2013 o Mokha Laget: Crux, ARTSLANT.COM, Jan 2011 o The X Factor, Rani Molla, Santa Fe REPORTER, Jan 12-18, 2011 o Alex Ross, Mokha Laget, THE Magazine, Feb/Mar, 2011 o Compelling Exhibition, Harmony Hammond, Journal North Santa Fe, Jan 21, 2011 o Top Talent, SANTA FEAN MAGAZINE, June/July 2008 o Florence Biennial, Exhibition Catalog, Nov 2007 o CBS Sunday Morning, Color Field Street Painting, August 2007 o Mokha Laget: Sub Rosa, Diane Armitage, THE Magazine, July 2002 o Salon d’Automne, Exhibition Catalog, Paris, France, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2010 o From a Hilltop to the Scenery of the Mind, Craig Smith, The NEW MEXICAN,

April 23, 1999 o Maps of the Invisible, Dennis Jarrett, The Santa Fe REPORTER, Vol 25, April 1999 o Mokha Laget, by Joe Shannon, ART in AMERICA, June 1998 o Mokha Laget: Circumnavigations, JW Mahoney, WASHINGTON REVIEW, Aug/Sept 1998 o Schemata, J. Dorsey, THE BALTIMORE SUN, Aug 1994 o DC Dreaming, JW Mahoney, ART in AMERICA, Feb 1991 o Science & Art, M. Welzenbach, WASHINGTON POST, Oct 6, 1990 o The Urge to Merge, Jane Addams Allen, WASHINGTON CITY PAPER, June 8-14,1990 o Archéographies: A voyage through Time, R. Zamora, AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, June 1990

o Conceptual Art in the 90’s, K. Holtzman, CRITICAL MASS Catalog, April 1990 o Castoffs at the Center of a Local Aesthetic, A. Thorson, WASHINGTON TIMES,

Jan 11, 1990 o Emerging Art of the 80’s, Art News, 1988 o Collage, Exhibition Catalog, MARYLAND COLLEGE OF ART & DESIGN, 1987 Mokha Laget’s work is included in the collections of Ulrich Museum, The Museum of Geometric and Madi Art, Art in Embassies, The Artery Collection, The National Institutes of Health, Delta Airlines, The George Washington University and the University of Texas, and numerous other public and private collections.

DAVID RICHARD GALLERY