Magic 14 1960

Alfred Jensen made "Magic 14" with oil paint, but when exactly is a bit of a mystery. What isn't a mystery is Jensen's mark-making, which comes across as intuitive. He built this painting from colourful rectangular blocks, layered in thick, sculptural daubs. Up close, it's a playground of texture, a tactile map of Jensen's process. Look at that deep blue rectangle near the center. You can almost feel the weight of the pigment, the deliberate pressure of the brush. It's like Jensen is building, brick by brick, a language we're only beginning to understand. The white dots, they act as an anchors, and give the sense of a face. Jensen's whole oeuvre is like this, a constant wrestling with ideas through form and colour. I’m reminded of Paul Klee, who also tried to make sense of the world using basic geometric forms. Ultimately, Jensen's work is a reminder that art thrives on uncertainty, inviting us to lose ourselves in the process of looking.