Capriccio XVIII
2019
14" x 28"
Painting, Gouache on clear primed linen
Signed, titled, dated verso
These small linen works are complex articulations of imaginary space through the free arrangement of geometric shapes. Spatial and architectural in nature but without gravity, they operate like a kind of visual poem. Off the grid and hinged together by a few lines, the shapes are arranged like abstract scenery emerging purely from an intuition of right proportions and formal dynamics. They follow an aesthetic strategy similar to the 18th century's imaginary architectural paintings called capriccios. The term also refers to free-form music which is perhaps more closely associated with the process of improvisation. Each shape grows dynamically and organically -- the way cloud formations might develop -- and speaks the language of contemporary dance choreography.

About the Artist
Mokha Laget is a New Mexico-based painter known for her geometric abstractions that utilize shaped canvas to take hard-edge color field imagery into another dimension. Her work has been exhibited internationally over the past 30 years and has been written about in Art in America, The New Art Examiner, The Washington Post, Art Ltd., and many others. Her work is included in the collections of the Ulrich Museum, The Museum of Geometric and Madi Art, Art in Embassies, The Artery Collection, The National Institutes of Health as well as private and corporate collections around the world.

Born in North Africa, a region of radiant light and dramatic geographical contrasts, Mokha went on to study Fine Arts at the Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington DC. There she studied under several prominent members of the Washington Color School (WCS), an influential non-objective painting group whose principal members included Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, Thomas Downing, Howard Mehring and Paul Reed. During her years in DC, she worked as a professional artist and studio assistant to WCS painter Gene Davis.

Mokha has enjoyed a diverse career characterized by travel, color, and curiosity. In addition to her painting practices, she has also worked as an independent curator, art restorer, arts writer and was Curatorial Assistant for the New Mexico Museum of Fine Arts. In theatre, she was a set designer, scriptwriter, actor and director. With a degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, she has spent much of the past 25 years traveling parts of Africa, Latin America, and Asia as a simultaneous French interpreter. She lives and works in an off-grid studio in the mountains of New Mexico.