El Paso, TX

Lark Mason

Nico Ortega's contemporary paintings draw from border light, painted signage, and the color logic of desert nights. As Lark Mason, Ortega favors restrained compositions with one or two disruptive gestures that keep each work from settling too neatly.

“I am interested in the moment a clean structure starts to loosen. A painting becomes real for me when order and accident can both still be seen.”