A MASTER: Noted abstract artist pays visit to New Castle High

By Patrick E. Litowitz
New Castle News

Fri, May 16 2008

— Art museums and galleries worldwide feature the works of abstract artist Paul Jenkins.
On Monday, the 85-year-old New York City resident with his wife, Suzanne, appeared at New Castle Junior-Senior High School to inspect a digital representation of his work, “Phenomena Tantric Following.”
Impressed with the outcome, Jenkins gave his blessing to the effort.
“I think they did it superbly,” he said. “When I heard about it over the phone, I said, ‘Hot damn.’
“It’s encompassing. I feel I can see the whole damn thing.”
Featured on the school’s second-floor corridor, the artwork is actually a detail (or portion) of the original work. The painting is part of the Butler Institute of American Art’s collection.
Jenkins, who attended Struthers High School, said this is the first time his work has been reproduced in digital format.
“This dynamic scale related profoundly to the painting,” he said. “ It has the same impact as the painting. It isn’t a departure because of its methodology.
“This is a work that puts conjunction with dynamic intent. It relates to the expansion of the prism.
“You see the same color but never the same color twice because every time you put it into the light to it reflects differently. This differentiation is something to somehow be mysteriously captured.”
David A. Esposito and David Mackey of Eckles Architecture and Engineering were responsible for placing Jenkins’ art in the junior-senior high. Originally, glass block was to be placed in the space that the detail occupies.
When the school board added the junior high to the project, a second-floor corridor was constructed. Brick replaced the glass block. Esposito and Mackey turned to the Butler’s director, Dr. Lou Zona, for a suggestion to brighten the area. Zona proposed using “Phenomena Tantric Following.”
“It’s a wonderful representation of the work,” Zona said. “It works with the architecture. They allowed his work to be represented digitally.
“I can’t get over the quality. It’s so remarkable. This piece will last.”
During a dinner in Jenkins’ honor Sunday at the Butler, Zona read a lengthy list of the galleries and museums in which Jenkins’ paintings reside. They are found in Australia, Austria, France, Germany, Great Britain, Israel, Japan and the Netherlands. Across the United States, he is represented in more than 60 cities.
Locally, the Butler owns 10 significant works, Zona said. The Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh also shows Jenkins’ artwork.
“Paul Jenkins is one of the most important abstract painters of the post-World War II era,” Zona said. “He’s known for his rather unorthodox method of applying paint.
“He pours paint. He moves paint around very unusually. His style of abstraction has kind of caught the imagination of the world. He’s beloved, for example, in France.”
While in town, Jenkins and his wife returned to Struthers. A stop at an antique shop produced a handful of treasures.
“I found a mirror, typewriter, an old pocket knife,” he said. “It was just seventh heaven. I was able to accumulate memories.”
Superintendent George Gabriel and high school principal Dr. Jacqueline Respress held a small ceremony in the Jenkins’ honor and presented a plaque to acknowledge the artist and his work.
“I paint morning, noon and night,” Jenkins said. “And if I’m not painting, I’m preparing to paint. Every moment it’s there, and it’s calling on me.
“I must say I love being (shown) in a high school.”

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