Draft:Mokha Laget

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Mokha Laget
Mokha Laget working on Gene Davis memorial street painting, 2007, 8th Street NW in Washington, D.C.
Born1959 (1959)
Oran, Algeria
NationalityFrench-American
EducationCorcoran School of the Arts and Design [BFA, 1982]; Georgetown University School of Foreign Service [MA, 1992]
Known forAbstract art: Perceptual art; Geometric abstraction and Color field painting
AwardsFrederick Hammersley Fund for the Arts; Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant; Artist Award, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities
Websitewww.mokhalaget.com

Mokha Laget (born 1959) is a Franco-American visual artist, known for investigating spatial and auditory perceptual phenomena through geometric abstraction.[1] Her work is influenced by linguistics; music; psychology; architecture and modern art movements. Laget’s interdisciplinary practice spans painting, sculpture, printmaking, and soundscape video animation.[2] Laget studied under the Washington Color School, noted for its dynamic use of color field painting and shaped canvas compositions.[3] Her paintings are typically composed of interlocking, brightly colored geometric forms, creating visual effects that explore shifting perspectives and light sources.[4] Her work has been covered in publications, such as Art in America, The New Art Examiner, The Washington Post, and Hyperallergic.

Early Life and Education

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Born in Algeria to French parents, Laget spent her early years in North Africa. She later attended the Lycée Français de New York, where she completed her baccalaureate in philosophy, followed by studies at the University of Caen, where she received a degree in Anglo-American civilization and literature in 1981.[5] Laget completed her formal art education at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design in Washington, D.C., graduating in 1982. While at the Corcoran, she studied under Paul Reed and formed connections with other artists associated with the Washington Color School, including Gene Davis, whom Laget worked with as a studio assistant from 1980 to 1984. After his passing, Laget helped organize a memorial exhibition at the National Museum of American Art, now known as the Smithsonian American Art Museum; and in 1987 she led a public art project commemorating Davis with a 450 x 50-foot stripe street painting on 8th Street NW in Washington, D.C.[6] She later revisited this work for the 2007 Color Field Remix festival, a commission from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities in collaboration with the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Kreeger Museum.[7]

Career

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In the mid-1990s, Laget relocated to New Mexico, where she lives and works near Santa Fe.[8] She has exhibited internationally since the 1980s. In 2022, a ten-year survey exhibition, Perceptualism, was held at the American University Museum's Katzen Art Center, highlighting her explorations in geometric abstraction.[9] Art curator, Lucy Lippard, contributed to the exhibition catalogue, describing Laget as a "spatial trickster" whose work invites viewers to engage in an intellectual and perceptual exploration of form and color.[10]

Laget was Curator-at-large (2017-2021) for the Museum of Geometric and Madi art in Dallas, TX.[11] In 1990, she curated Science Symbols and Matter at Strathmore Hall Arts Center, where she collaborated with avant-garde composer John Cage.[12] Laget’s interest in experimental music and interdisciplinary work, blends visual and sound media.[13] Her "visual score" drawings and paintings have been adapted by composer, Bobby Ge, for live performances at the Chicago Symphony Civic Orchestra (2023)[14] and the Copland House (2021)[15]. The “visual score” body of work has been presented in art institutions including Roman Capriccio (2023), American Academy in Rome; Étude Lumineuse (2023), Chatter at SITE Santa Fe; and Extempo (2024)[16] at the New Mexico Museum of Art.

Laget is a recipient of the Lorraine Bernstein Prize for Painting (1992) from the Corcoran School of Art; Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (2019); and the Frederick Hammersley Fund for the Arts (2024)[17]. In 2002, she was inducted as a Sociétaire at the Salon d’Automne in Paris and became a regular exhibitor at the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles, connecting her work with art movements in European abstraction.[18] Laget has received Artists-in-Residence awards from New Mexico Museum of Art, Vladem Contemporary; Mass MoCA; , Millay Arts and Golden Foundation for the Arts.[19] Her work is held in international collections and is represented by Louis Stern Fine Arts, Gallery Sonja Roesch[20] and Turner Carroll Gallery.

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Category:1959 births Category:American women artists Category:American abstract painters Category:American printmakers Category:American women printmakers Category:American contemporary artists Category:Visual music artists Category:Painters from Washington, D.C. Category:Artists from New Mexico Category:Corcoran School of the Arts and Design alumni Category:Georgetown University alumni

References

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  1. ^ Hutchinson, Cori. "Mokka Laget: Hot Axis". Whitehot Magazine. Retrieved 3 September 2025.
  2. ^ Ellingson, Amy (8 May 2023). "Mokha Lagets's Visual Paradoxes". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  3. ^ Hileman, Kristen (2023). "Perceptualism: Gentle Chaos". American University Museum. doi:10.57912/23895000.v1. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  4. ^ Abatemarco, Michael (5 July 2013). "Implied Spaces: Mokha Laget's Color Abstractions". Santa Fe New Mexican, Pasatiempo. Santa Fe New Mexican. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  5. ^ Landi, Ann. "Mokha Laget". Vasari 21. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  6. ^ MacKinnon, Dorothy. "Streaking Freely With Gene Davis". Washington Post. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  7. ^ Johnson, Caitlin (9 July 2007). "Reviving Washington D.C's Art Scene". CBS News, Sunday Morning. CBS News. Retrieved 26 August 2025.
  8. ^ Fordin, Spencer. "Outside the Box" (PDF). Mokha Laget Studio. The New Mexican, Pasatiempo. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  9. ^ Lombardi, D. Dominick (July 2022). "A Survey of late paintings and sculptures by Mokha Laget is on view in Washington, D.C." Art and Antiques Magazine. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  10. ^ Lippard, Lucy (2023). "Perceptualism: A Conversation Between Lucy Lippard & Mokha Laget, Music and architecture and painting and art lives". American University Museum. doi:10.57912/23895000.v1. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  11. ^ Heartney, Eleanor. "Mokha Laget: Color into Space" (PDF). Museum of Geometric and MADI Art. Museum of Geometric and MADI Art. Retrieved 16 September 2025.
  12. ^ Lawrence, Sidney. "Washington Art Matters: Art Life in the Capital 1940-1990" (PDF). Sidney Lawrence Art. Washington Arts Museum. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  13. ^ Perez, Faith. "Colores: Abstract Relationships". NM PBS. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  14. ^ "Intuitive Geometry". Bobby Ge Music. Bobby Ge. 25 March 2021. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  15. ^ "Lightplay". Bobby Ge Music. Bobby Ge. 14 October 2024. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  16. ^ "Extempo". New Mexico Museum of Art. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  17. ^ Fordin, Spencer. "Taking Up Residence". Pasatiempo, The Santa Fe New Mexican. Pasatiempo, The Santa Fe New Mexican. Retrieved 16 September 2025.
  18. ^ "Artist Biography: Mokha Laget". Art in Embassies. U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
  19. ^ "Mokha Laget's Abstractions Come to Life at the AU Museum". College of Arts and Sciences. American University. 27 June 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
  20. ^ Tommaney, Jim. "Mokha Laget: Chromatic Constructs". Houston Press. Retrieved 31 August 2025.