Phenomena

Bursting with color, this watercolor flows across the paper like liquid light. Paul Jenkins, an American artist who worked through the second half of the twentieth century, made paintings like this by tilting and pouring his colors so they ran and blended on their own. He often used a special tool, sometimes an ivory knife, to guide the paint as it moved. The result is a piece where reds, yellows, greens, and blues melt into each other without any hard edges, almost as if the painting made itself.

Jenkins called many of his works "Phenomena," a word he used for years to describe the way his colors seemed to appear like natural events, such as storms, light, or shifting weather. He was loosely connected to the Abstract Expressionist movement, but his approach felt softer and more fluid than the bold splashes of some of his peers. There is something calming about watching the colors spread here, and part of the fun is letting your eyes wander and deciding what, if anything, you see in the shapes.