Swing I 24" x 24"

See more art from the 2025 New Works With Swing I, part of the 2025 New Works Collection, James Nowak shifts his painterly vocabulary toward rhythm, balance, and improvisation. Unlike the dense gestural layers of the Symphony or Delicate Spring works, Swing I embraces sparseness and clarity, allowing each mark to carry weight and resonance. The title itself signals a connection to music and movement—specifically the improvisational cadence of jazz—suggesting that the painting is less about structural opposition and more about rhythm, play, and syncopation. The composition is striking in its restraint. A pale blue ground establishes a cool, expansive field, functioning almost like silence in music. Upon this backdrop, a handful of bold, deliberate strokes take center stage: thick, sinuous black arcs that bisect the canvas, vibrant red patches, and sweeping yellow gestures that curve with a buoyant energy. The economy of marks emphasizes rhythm over density. Each stroke becomes an event