Situating the Mesh

Artist: Morgan Johnson

Format: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 12" × 24"

Description:

Situating The Mesh has the immediate, tactile comfort of a quilt. The Fractionalist cells here are tightly fitted rectangles and wedges that curve in concentric rings around a warm yellow moon, their edges meeting with the gentle precision of patchwork — you can almost feel the seams. The deep blues and purples of the night sky press outward from the center while the moon holds its ground, luminous and slightly imperfect, radiating outward in rings that draw the eye inexorably inward. It is a comforting subject and a comforting surface, and yet from the Situate Series, Johnson's premise is quietly honest: "hoping that things will 'just line up' to create a solution or improve circumstances." Look long enough and the comfort reveals its edges. The pieces are fitted beautifully together but nothing quite resolves — the rings don't complete, the colors shift without settling, the puzzle is assembled and yet somehow still open. The feeling is padded and warm, like sinking into something familiar at the end of a long day, when the best available wisdom is simply to stop trying to solve it. Maybe sleep on it. Everything will probably look clearer in the morning.

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