Intermingled pools of vibrant color offset against dusky fields demonstrate Jenkins’s considerable command in manipulating the fluidities of oil and enamel paint in Phenomena When I Looked Away. Its title references the artist’s interest in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s studies in perception, in particular the observation that afterimages persist on the retina when one turns quickly from bright light toward darkness. In fact, Jenkins’s original title for the work was Phenomena When G Looked Away, with “G” alluding to Goethe.
