In “Action Potential,” the most impressive painting in Marjorie Mikasen’s “Foci” exhibition at Modern Arts Midwest, brain waves and brightly colored tendrils that suggest neural connectors join in a dense pattern of shapes that, for all the contrasting movement and color, hang together rather than feel chaotic.

Like the rest of her works, “Action Potential” is a hard-edged abstraction. Creating that kind of painting, which is often geometric, is labor-intensive work. Masking tape is used to create each of the lines in the paintings and many of the small areas are painted over multiple times to get precise colors.

In Mikasen’s case, that work leads to an intense visual experience that justifies the title of her exhibition — “Foci,” a reference to the multiple ways and places one can focus on her dense, often mazelike paintings.

But the structure of many of Mikasen’s paintings isn’t based on a random combination of shapes. Rather it is rooted in scientific imagery and thought.

Married to a biochemist, Mikasen uses patterns and shapes of cells and chemicals as part of her work, giving it an intellectual depth that, while it might not be readable by all visitors, connects with those who know what they’re looking at.

For the rest of us, whether or not we have some vague idea of the scientific linkages she is making, “Foci” is a treat with the intricate patterns and compelling interlocked colors capturing the eye and sending it shooting around the paintings.

In an interview you can hear on the “Variations on the Visual” podcast at journalstar.com, Mikasen talks about how she makes her work, which, in its initial stages, can be a process of combining hand drawings with help from the computer.

Then she begins the process of taping and painting, using a computer program that lets her explore various color combinations before deciding exactly what she’ll place where on the canvas.

Using acrylic paint, Mikasen mixes and saves specific colors to keep the paintings scientifically precise, then manipulates the space to create an engaging collision of geometric shapes, hard lines and bright colors.

In paintings like “Ome,” that combination yields an absorbing complexity with shapes piled onto shapes contrasting with the wide-open light green space of the rest of the canvas. A strongly vertical work, “Ome” has an up-and-down pull that slides on the interlaced imagery.

 It’s hard to guess exactly how many different colors are in “Ome,” but there have to be close to 20. Each is smartly placed to create the combination of tension and beauty that gives Mikasen’s paintings much of their appeal.

As the exhibition effectively shows, Mikasen’s approach works in various sizes. While the largest pieces, like “Action Potential,” are the most instantly eye-catching, the smaller pieces are equally as involving in their own right. In fact, they may be more so as they demand closer viewing.

In addition to the stand-alone paintings, Mikasen has included stereoscopic pairs in “Foci.” Painted to be looked at with a cross-eyed view, pieces like “Rasa 3” are clever constructions that have part of a pattern on one canvas and its matching portion on the other.

 When the eyes cross, the patterns meet, creating an image in the brain that doesn’t exist in “reality.” That’s the magic of the old stereoscopes, and reproduced in painting, it’s a feat of skill but also another way to look at how the brain processes visual information.

Mikasen, a native of Chicago who says the grid of that city likely contributes to the geometric drive of her work, has lived in Lincoln since 1990 and has a growing national reputation. She has a piece titled “Proprio” in “ORDER(ed),” an exhibition at Philadelphia’s Gallery Siano of 17 artists from eight states and Canada, who work in geometric abstraction.

Looking through the catalog, which admittedly isn’t a great way to view art, it is clear that Mikasen’s work stands with the best of the rest of the show and seems to be the most complex work in that show, which runs through June 17.

“Foci,” her Modern Arts Midwest show, which, she says, is a representative sampling of her work, is on view through Saturday.  This captivating show shouldn’t be missed. But be sure that you have some time when you stop by to see her paintings. Their complexity demands that you actually look at them and follow the shapes and lines and follow them and follow them and follow them.

Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com.

 

If you go

What: “Foci” by Marjorie Mikasen

Where: Modern Arts Midwest,  The Loft at The Mill, Suite 300, 800 P St.

When: Through Saturday.  Open Tuesday through Saturday

Podcast: Download an interview with Marjorie Mikasen on the “Variations on the Visual” podcast at www.journalstar.com/media/podcast.