Kendall Fall Collections 2011

PAUL JENKINS (b. 1921) Phenomena, Shoulder to the Sun 1981 oil on canvas 78 x 58 inches signed, dated 1981 and inscribed “New York” on stretcher verso Provenance: Private collection, Florida Like his peers Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, and Robert Motherwell, Paul Jenkins is an Abstract Expressionist painter. However, since 1959 Jenkins has, in effect, chosen his own classification, that of “Abstract Phenomenist.” “Phenomenon, for me, is involved with the capture of the ever-changing reality, both in the act of painting and the final result. I am drawn to the ever-changing realities not because they seem to be the expression of a haphazard world, but because they draw me closer to the wonders. This incites me not just to accept change but to induce it.” [1] Phenomena Shoulder to the Sun demonstrates Jenkins’s method of pouring paint onto the angled canvas, sometimes controlling its direction with a long-handled round brush or an ivory knife, so that it floats and pools, creating translucent effects of color and ethereal movement. The liquid aspect of pigment, its very moisture, was the quality Jenkins found most attractive in the work of his teacher Yasuo Kuniyoshi, and it is the distinguishing feature of his own work. The use of watercolor in 1959 led to his ongoing experiments with acrylic polymers, and to the gossamer veils of brilliant color he favors. [2] Jenkins has acknowledged superficial similarities between his paintings and those of his contemporaries, but rather than staining raw canvases as did Helen Frankenthaler and Morris Louis, he has preferred to paint on a primed white undercoat, which helps to account for his work’s luminosity. [3] He may apply color to this undercoat while it is still wet, or after it has dried. The colors themselves are mixed with a binder of acrylic matte medium, which intensifies the hues and slows their drying. [4] The title suggests poetic, intangible qualities, and alludes perhaps to the artist’s various interests in Jungian writings, Eastern philosophy, and Native American mythology. [5] Jerry N. Weiss [1] Jean Cassou, Jenkins (London, Thames and Hudson, 1963), 6. [2] Albert Elsen, Paul Jenkins (New York, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1975), 24-25. [3] Elsen, 26. [4] Elsen, 73. [5] John Berger, The colour code (The Guardian, October 18, 2005).