Paul Mogensen – n+1
Paul Mogensen – n+1
Mogensen’s progressional arrangements of geometric forms manifest in endless permutations. In a work from 2022, squares of diminishing size, rendered in Cadmium white, push against the borders of the Cadmium red–coated canvas as if guided by centrifugal force. In a composition of carmine pink on sat green, squares are magnified and clustered together, separated only by a sliver of negative space. For Mogensen, such two-colour compositions are a norm, but not a rule: in rare works of polychrome, colours are arranged in spectrum, advancing from cool to warm tones, as in a work from 2022. In each painting, Mogensen determines the height, width, and placement of the squares through elemental mathematics, particularly those deriving from Renaissance and Ancient Egyptian theorems. The works in this series are formally without title—an effort to remove all but what is needed from his paintings, leaving the relationship between colour and form as pure as possible. Preferring the stability of pre-mixed colours, Mogensen often works with paint straight from the tube. He contrasts smooth, opaque sections of paint in Cadmium orange, ultramarine, or alizarin crimson with the occasional use of ink wash and diluted acrylic.
