Deeply rooted in the history of geometric abstraction, Gary Petersen’s off-kilter paintings also refer to architecture, cartoons, and graphic design, often with a whiff of 1960s mod style. To create Nowhere Near, Petersen washed a base of irregular geometric shapes in thinned white paint, overlaying this muted background with boldly colored lines and shapes. Foregoing preparatory drawings, the artist works intuitively and directly on the canvas. The resulting compositions—vibrant and subdued, curved and straight, harmonious and dissonant—hold opposites in tension.