Untitled, acrylic on wood panel

Our featured artist today is Gary Jenkins. Gary was born in Flint, Michigan and now lives and works in Kumagaya, Saitama, Japan. This artist’s practice revolves around abstract paintings that explore texture and color through repeating patterns of bulbous, smooth marks.

Ginza No.39

The Black Ice series in Gary's portfolio

Gary’s most recent works in his portfolio are a series of acrylic paintings that explore variations on the artist’s familiar methods of working. In one group of paintings, the artist sticks to a two or three-tone colour scheme, painting overlapping blobs of colour that are separated by incongruously hard black lines. In other paintings, Gary channels Jackson Pollock on wood panels that are packed to bursting with tiny, brightly coloured marks and long, crossing lines.

I like the way that Gary uses negative space to emphasize the marks in his paintings. A great example of this is his Black Ice series, in which Gary worked almost exclusively in black, white and a neutral, earthy tan colour. The white marks have sharp, hard edges that jut out into the other shapes, piercing them. While the paintings are layered, it’s a puzzle for the eye to try to figure out which marks were made first.  

Crosscurrents No.21, acrylic and acrylic gouache on fabric on canvas