Erick Johnson's Parallelogram Paintings at Heskin Contemporary Explore Shape and Color

Erick Johnson's Parallelogram Paintings exhibition at Heskin Contemporary in New York City ran from January 14 to February 13. The series features oil and gouache works presenting stacked, rightward-leaning bands of vibrant rhomboids. Despite the title, none of the shapes are true quadrilaterals—their extreme corners are cut off by the canvas edges, creating 5- and 6-sided figures. Negative spaces along the margins form serrated edges of inward-pointing triangles, hinting at the missing tips. Underneath each parallelogram, contrasting color bands emerge through layered, abraded, and scraped techniques in the oils, resulting in soft-edge abstraction. Johnson's style recalls influences like Richard Diebenkorn, Kenneth Noland, and Frank Stella, with rhythmic color interplay. While reminiscent of Mark Rothko's stacked rectangles, Johnson's dynamic, forward-tilting shapes contrast with Rothko's brooding tone. The paintings also suggest visual metaphors: parallelograms can be seen as floating rectangular planes in oblique perspective, like suspended paint layers before fusing into two dimensions. Titles such as "Chord Stack" and "Quartet" elaborate this metaphor, comparing color layering to musical chords where different tones harmonize. The exhibition invites viewers to shift perspectives, appreciating the complexity of under-layers and the interplay of suggestion through labels and shapes.