Paul Jenkins

American Abstract Painting Is:

A. Not susceptible to comparison
Surprising as it may seem to some, American abstract painting departs from that of the early 20th Century, as well as from that of the 19th. Monet�s �Lily Pond� paintings reflect light. But neither radiation nor reflection permeate the interior; light does not interpenetrate them, however much you want it to, American abstract painting may be thought to look like its 19th and early 20th Century counterparts, and, even, is often compared to painting before the 18th Century, but comfortable comparison zones are out  the conception is different.

B. Not Surreal
Surrealism�s constant, insistent advocates refuse to revise or make clear its present meaning. This dormant pose makes it easy for them to claim contemporaries, who themselves make no issue of being part of Surrealism. The advocates of Surrealism claim their rights to modernity on the basis of obscure poetic resemblances; while, conceptually, they retain the basic ideas of Surrealism�s past; to shock, to destroy values without changing them.

C. Not Chained to its past
Unlike Surrealism, abstract American painting struggles toward its future without pretending to ignore its past. But it does not need its past for explanation, justification or apology. This painting confounds comparison through its strong, evident, and diverse individuality. Even if attempts to explain continue to rely on comparison, valid explanations are to be found only within the body of the work itself.

D. Not fixed by rules
Nor is American abstract painting to be taken for granted. This painting leaves no golden section, no patent structure, upon which to climb. A Zen monk visited New York, decided to reside on Riverside Drive, then walked to the Cedar Tavern. He held a bottle of bourbon over his head and said, �If you don�t tell me what American abstract painting is, I kill bottle.�

E. Not slow but sudden
Rye tastes differently than cognac; the one you throw down, the other you taste. If you drink cognac too fast, it will make you sick.

Parisians have the time; they can afford to wait. New Yorkers don�t have the time; they make their own time.

F. Not a microcosm of painting
Abstract painting in America is not blown-up details from the Museum Without Walls.

G. Not dependent on success
New York is a no win. Paris is a win town, but in winning, one cannot afford to lose. In New York one can lose and still win.

Milton Resnick

Not long ago after coming to America and learning a little English I came home from school and said to my mother do you know I have a new name, she said she liked it, and I said, do you know that George Washington is my father.

I am no longer joking. Whatever reason anyone else gives to explain their doings is not my reason if it calls for Americanism. It is a kind of horseplay and a.

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