Alfred Jensen’s brightly colored, geometric paintings are influenced by his study of Mayan, Greek and Chinese numerology, tied to astronomy and cosmology. Born in Guatemala, Alfred Jensen’s peripatetic life included time in Denmark, Germany, San Diego, and Paris, before he settled in New York in 1951. He was involved in Abstract Expressionist circles, while always remaining slightly apart, developing a practice that combined gesturally layered paint with esoteric geometries.

Beginning in 1960 he became deeply interested in Mayan numerical systems and their conceptions of time and space, which are linked to their unique calendar and spatial relations between the earth and the sun, moon, and Venus. This knowledge is particularly demonstrated within Mayan architecture. Their cosmology also associated colors with the four quadrants -red, black, white, and yellow with the East, West, North and South respectfully. These studies led Jensen to include Mayan number sequences within his paintings and to present related geometries. With these interests in mind, the sequencing of descending or ascending rectangles in the painting The Acroatic Rectangle, Per: V can be read as referencing Mayan pyramidal structures. The small dots of paint that demarcate each rectangle may also be related to numerical devices. Its palette could also articulate shifting spatial quadrants. The painting’s title adds ancient Greek references, specifically the development of Acroatic poetry, where a second or hidden meaning is formed by the first or last letters of a line of text. The mental activity and structures implied by these sources are uniquely contrasted with the physicality of Jensen’s use of paint, whose rhythmic tactility inspires memories of touch, such as that experienced with wool rugs, knitting or other densely woven fabrics.