Neil Jenney
Atmosphere, 1978
Oil on panel in artist frame
36.5 x 67.125 inches
Courtesy Barbara Mathes Gallery, New York

In this work, Jenney isolates a section of open sky with a heavy black frame, which functions as a window for the view he presents. The luminous, softly blended colors recall the radiant skies of Hudson River School landscapes by nineteenth-century artists such as Thomas Cole and Frederic Church. But Jenney's painting, with its conspicuous label and frame, reminds viewers that even representational views of nature are mediated by the artist's point of view. The act of framing and labeling this haze of warm and cool colors transforms an abstract color study into "atmosphere."


Web site: http://www.barbaramathesgallery.com/
artists/neil-jenney/