Jesus comes alive in 'Purple Haze'

Scott Jenkins

Every once in a while something delightful leaps off the Internet or a printed page or conversation and feathers a nest in our imagination.

God knows we need more of the delightful, so perhaps I should credit Divine strategy for running across the art of Scott Jenkins. Certainly the painter gives God his due.

Almost every piece of his is biblically themed or secretly embedded with a spiritual message. Titles can be a dead giveaway, especially one like, "Who has warned you?' (John the Baptist's caution about the wrath to come) or the "4 Beasts of Daniel 7."

Jenkins calls himself a "Classic Primitive Painter/Artist." From a distance most of his work appears entirely abstract – a haze of effulgent, pastel masses or dark ground with columns and repetitively etched designs. But on coming closer, the canvas comes alive with scenery, animals, fire, landscapes and biblical characters.

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Clouds of colors and clumped, incised lines appear to dance, overlap, merge or collide. Together they give a numinous, surreal atmosphere. The deeper you look, the more activity or possible identities Jenkin's figures may take on. They are unsubstantial but definitely there, like voices in the distance.

Pieces such as "PurpleHaze: Bold as Love" are drenched with unexpected imagery. On a dense, violet field, spectral figures surge toward the central character. A dark man carries the Cross along the Via Dolorosa, and other cross shapes cut through the painting. Men of every type appear: Sphinx-like soldiers, grotesque masked faces and ordinary men, like apparitions from a nightmare. Sheep, doves and other sacrificial beasts curiously watch.

"PurpleHaze" (detail of Simon the Cyrene) by Scott Jenkins

"Purple Haze" reminded Jenkins of "Jimmy Hendrix at Madison Square Garden in 1969." Hendrix became "the one carrying Jesus' Cross," he revealed. In the lower foreground of the painting, Christ strokes a lamb. He has an almost obliterated face.

"PurpleHaze:Bold as Love" 2013: by Scott Jenkins

Hendrix may seem an odd stand-in for Simon the Cyrene, but it was common for artists of all ages to add familiar elements. El Greco inserted counts and bishops into heaven, and Ghirlandaio portrayed the birthplace of the Baptist as a 15th-century Florentine palace.

Jenkins' work is especially impressive considering he resurrected his painting only in the last few years after a long break. He spent decades "teaching agriculture to juvenile delinquents" (his description) among other things. Like many Americans who lost or changed careers, Jenkins is back full circle to a first love and talent – painting at 60.

Viewers must scrutinize his paintings for a many of the subjects and details to appear, like a slowly loading computer image. Intriguingly, Jenkins explained that he creates his work in much the same way. Beginning with globs of leftover paints or brush wipes, he watches and waits for the painting to pull together, adding details as he sees them suggested or needed. Eventually they become mobs, oceans, Eden or an "Escape from France, England."

"I feel I am working with God," Jenkins says.

He's not claiming divine inspiration, but he manages to inspire viewers via a process that seems almost random.

"I could never repeat these," Jenkins claims, because he didn't plan them but prayed and dug out what they should be.

An entire series, "GOD is Love," covertly spells the word "love" within the compositions. Oh, it takes a bit of scrutiny, but once it's pointed out, you'll always see it, like a constellation. Jenkins also labels paintings with "HB," code for "Holy Bible."

"Wool(NewEnglandShearing)" (2011) 22x30 by Scott Jenkins

In "Wool (New England Shearing)" (2011), a simple gem of a painting, the clear figures spell the word "love" via sheep, hay and figure. A hulky but gentle shearer casts a concerned glance at his flock, who meekly and fearlessly await their shepherd. Here we see the "primitive" from Jenkin's description of his work. Still, a masterful use of color, movement and soft sense of expectation are considered and elegant.

Looking intently you'll find a menagerie of beasts, real and mythical, scattered through Jenkins' work. Lions roam freely at a manger, slipping through crowds or morphing into men. Sheep populate most paintings. Oxen and reptilish things lounge about campfires and appear in unexpected places. And there are many birds – sometimes hard to distinguish from the angels. Hybrid creatures with human hands gaze at Jesus in his humiliation.

A close-up from "Jesus Talking and Listening to the Elders" leaves an almost lurid but still transcendent, atmosphere through paint and texture. We view only the back of Jesus' head, which seems to emanate fire rather than sport the traditional halo.

"Jesus talking and listening to the Elders" Scott Jenkins

Jenkins explains his return to art toward the latter part of his life as a joy. After art school in the U.S. and Sweden decades ago, he dropped painting entirely for more pragmatic things. Now he is doing entirely different work and is driven to focus on specifically Biblical subjects.

"I am just warming up," Jenkins informs me, rather modestly.

With such potent imagery waiting to express itself on canvas, we'll see what he comes up with when he feels fully primed.