Paul Jenkins was an American abstract artist and member of the New York School. Jenkins's innovative practice was characterized by his choice to avoid the paintbrush altogether, instead allowing pigment to pool, bloom, or roll across the surface of his canvases, guiding the paint with a knife to create fluid fields of color, as seen in Phenomena Arch The Sun (1986). He studied at the Kansas City Art Institute and the Art Students League in New York with Yasuo Kunlyoahi. A close friend of Mark. Rothko, Jenkins remained tied to the city even during his move to Paris during the 1950s. The painter died on June 9, 2012 in New York, NY at the age of 88. Today, his works are included in the collections of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena and The Museum of Modern Art inn New York, among others. The provenance on this painting is a private collector.