The Brooklyn Rail

KARMA | SEPTEMBER 27 - NOVEMBER 4, 2018

Paul Mogensen became known for his single-color many paneled paintings utilizing mathematical ratios, which were first shown at the Bykert Gallery in New York City in 1966. Throughout his career, he continued to use mathematical principles in conjunction with basic designs and color to distill painting to its most essential nature, while infusing his work with a tension that exists as a result of inherently opposing qualities. The paintings resulting from this process seem perpetually of the moment, yet seem to transcend time.

The first time I had the privilege of seeing Paul Mogensen’s work was last winter, on what felt like the coldest and windiest day in the city, to retrieve a colossal amount of paintings from his Soho loft studio while working as a freelance art handler for Karma. First, I was struck by the sheer amount of work and scale of Paul’s paintings, many of which had to be folded to fit out the door. It was a trying day as an art handler, but his work stayed in my mind long after the cold and fatigue subsided. I eventually got to see much more of Paul’s work through the gallery, as paintings he’d made over the course of decades were taken from storage, documented and catalogued. I consider myself very lucky to have seen so much of his work and to have been a small part of the process of bringing it out into the light, and luckier still to get to know the artist. Paul, as I came to learn, has never compromised. Regardless of who was watching, what trends were happening in painting or the vicissitudes of the art market, he continued to make work that he felt was important. The following interview took place over the course of several visits to Paul's studio in New York

Dan Gratz (Rail): So first, maybe a little background—you had a studio in LA after graduating from The University of Southern California, then moved to NY?

Paul Mogensen: Well, first I went to Europe for eight months to see all the stuff I learned about in school. I studied 14th century Sienese painting a lot, so I went to see that. Simone Martini, Duccio, and Cimabue who’s Florentine, you know all those guys.

Rail: The greats.

Mogensen: Well, what was interesting about it to me was that it looked really good in the photograph, but when you saw the actual thing it was even better, and it’s like 700 years old and it still looks really good. Now you see everything just come and go, everything is out of date, run down.

Rail: So you were just starting back then and you’d just graduated from USC, what kind of paintings were you making then?

Mogensen: I was just starting, I had a studio in Pasadena … well, actually, I spend a lot of time thinking before I do anything.

Rail: Planning the paintings or thinking about ideas?

Mogensen: Not planning the paintings, but mostly figuring what I didn’t want to do.

Rail: There’s so much not to do!

Mogensen: That’s the main thing. Once you figure that out, you have a chance, right?

Rail: I often think about what to leave out—how do you distill something to the most essential quality or qualities? I think that’s what drew me to your work initially, is that I feel like it’s really doing that, getting at something essential but doing it in this really interesting and fresh way. It’s very hard to do as an artist. But back to the studio in Pasadena, what were you making then?

Mogensen: Well, I did some paintings which were one color, which was very difficult because everybody was opposed to it.

Rail: Just one solid color?

Mogensen: Yeah, but some are in separate parts.

Rail: So you were already on that trajectory—making the kind of paintings you would first show in New York?

Mogensen: Yeah.

Rail: How did you wind up in New York?

Mogensen: I went to school with David Novros and we shared an apartment for awhile—then he moved to NY and I stayed in LA. Klaus Kertess, who founded the Bykert Gallery, called David to find out about who he would recommend, since he was opening a gallery. And David recommended Brice Marden and me. So Klaus offered me a show and gave me money to rent a studio in New York and so forth. So I don’t have the experience that almost everybody has, you know. I was brought here, spoiled, but I saw it as an opportunity to work.

Rail: So then you were in New York starting from that point, in the mid sixties?