Scrapworks #2, cardboard on canvas

Artist Gary Jenkins creates paintings and mixed-media assemblages – or, “Scrapworks” – drawing from an appreciation for pure formal abstraction. Gary’s works in all media showcase a genuine appreciation for a wide range of artforms, and have an experimental, often playful tone.

Scrapworks #7, cardboard, burlap, acrylic paint on canvas

I’m enjoying looking through Gary’s gallery of 2017 Scrapworks. These pieces are often quite similar in terms of style and composition to his painted works, but express more subdued color palettes, often allowing the look and feel of the raw materials involved to shine through. Some of these works remind me of the paintings of Robert Ryman, both in the use of inexpensive, “low-brow” substrates like cardboard, and in the layering of different strokes of similarly colored paint.

The front page of Gary's art website

Despite the simple materials and the abstracted, experimental look, each of these works also exhibits a learned sense of illustrative composition and use of negative space. Brush marks and individual forms overlap only when it makes visual sense, and patches of raw wood, paper, or cardboard appear strategic rather than random.

Scrapworks #9, cardboard, paper, string, acrylic paint, fabric on canvas