'Phenomena near Baber Woods' is an
excellent example of Paul Jenkins' prime, late-1960s style. He poured
color directly onto the unprimed canvas and rotated the painting,
forcing the pigments to move and flow in various directions. The
painting's strong sense of movement and energy, therefore, comes out
of the process by which it was created.
Beginning about 1960, Jenkins began preceding the titles of his works
with the word "Phenomena." According to the artist, the word
was meant to evoke events or a manifestation, "to capture the
ever-changing reality, both in the act of painting and in the final
result." In the specific titles given to his works, the artist
attempted "to find the identity word that [would] secure an
attitude towards the painting rather than provoke a visual object that
the eyes will seek out." The inspiration for 'Phenomena near
Baber Woods' was a wooded area near Kansas, Illinois, on the property
of Jenkins' in-laws. This is not a landscape in the traditional sense,
but rather the visualization of his sensory reaction to the site, the
sensation of growth, decay, rebirth, the mutable cycle of life.
