Sergej Jensen’s poetic artworks provide a fresh approach to minimalist painting. Constructed from a wide range of textiles, the artist uses additive and subtractive physical methods like bleaching, fraying, or sewing to stand in for the traditional gestures of pure painting. Through these processes, Jensen creates breathtakingly fragile and quiet abstractions that become contemplations of the history and reuse of his chosen materials, and conjure a network of visual and visceral associations from the stains, holes, cracks and other traces of use that in turn become the primary pictorial elements. His application of pigments, diamond dust, thread, wool, and bleach become part of the treatments whose effects—in some cases—can take years to fully realize. Jensen’s works are installed within the pre-existing conditions of each individual gallery space. As such, interior design elements such as rugs, couches, or other repurposed domestic objects combine to create a total and unexpected environment for the viewer. Image shown: Sergej Jensen, Portrait Dr., (detail) 2005. Image courtesy of the artist and Anton Kern Gallery.