A Passed Afternoon Storm (section)

A hazy golden glow spills across this city street just as a storm has moved on and the sun pushes back through the clouds. Jeremy Mann, a contemporary American painter known for his atmospheric urban scenes, catches that brief hush after bad weather clears. Cars pack the road below, buildings climb up on both sides, and everything melts into a warm mist as the street rolls toward the horizon. The wet pavement seems to soak up the late light and throw it back again.

Mann builds his paintings with broad strokes and palette knives instead of tidy little details. Stand back and the scene pulls together into a recognizable street; move in close and it breaks apart into blurred smears and blocks of color. That back and forth gives his work its punch. Much of his time goes to San Francisco and other large cities, where he chases the way light plays on rainy streets at dawn and dusk. His goal is not to record every window or lamppost but to hand you the mood of standing there, in that glowing, quiet moment when the sky finally opens up.