April 14, 2021
Off the Grid: Print Portfolio by Mokha Laget opens in the Harnett Museum of Art, August 17, 2020, through July 7, 2021. Mokha Laget (American, born Algeria 1959) is based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is known for her geometric abstractions with shaped canvas and hard-edged color field imagery. While studying at the Corcoran College of Art and Design, Washington, DC, she was deeply influenced by several prominent artists of the Washington Color School, including Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, and Paul Reed, and for several years she was a studio assistant for Gene Davis. As a professional artist, she continues to explore perception and investigating color perception in particular, stating “I am less interested in representing a purely optical space, than to question how humans process sensory information when faced with indeterminacy.”
Twenty years ago, the artist built a solar home and off-grid studio on top of a mountain in New Mexico. Laget states, “The wild emptiness fills me with hope and a sense that anything is possible. The eye is not encumbered by any obstacles therefore my mind can roam freely.” She continues, “My work is heavily informed by art history, but I can also be moved by the day’s information, readings, memories, and hypotheticals,” and quotes the Russian artist Kazimir Malevich (1879-1935) as saying, “Art is not only art, but also a thought. It is the materialization of an idea.” This print series exemplifies her continuing interest in color theory, perception, and spatial relations. The artist’s website is www.mokhalaget.com