Title: A Moment In Time
Artist: Len van Zyl
Medium: Acrylic on stretched canvas
Dimensions: 76 cm x 76 cm
A Moment In Time expresses my attempt to capture the intensity of a fleeting moment—an instant of emotion, movement, and energy translated into color and form. Working instinctively, I layer paint, drips, and textures to create a surface alive with rhythm and motion. The process is both controlled and unpredictable, balancing precision with spontaneity. Each mark records a decision, a breath, a trace of presence. Through vibrant contrasts and layered gestures, I aim to preserve the feeling of time passing—how something momentary can be transformed into something lasting. This work is a visual meditation on energy, impermanence, and transformation.
Abstract Expressionism, particularly its branch known as Action Painting, emerged in New York in the 1940s and 1950s as one of the first major postwar art movements. It emphasized spontaneity, gesture, and the artist’s physical engagement with the canvas as the core of artistic expression—painting as performance.
Action Painting
(a term coined by critic Harold Rosenberg in 1952)
- Describes the dynamic, physical act of painting—dripping, splashing, or sweeping paint in energetic movements.
- The canvas becomes an arena for action, where the artist’s gestures record emotional intensity and immediacy.
- Artists such as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Franz Kline exemplified this approach.
In essence, Action Painting shifts focus from the finished image to the act of creation itself—the artwork is both the result and the record of a moment of expressive energy.
A Moment In Time reflects this lineage perfectly—it captures the rhythm, motion, and spontaneity central to Action Painting, but translated through a contemporary, urban lens with the inclusion of stenciled forms and pop-inflected color.
