The first thing Jack Vanzet's work does is refuse to let you look away. His canvases are dense with color and motion — fields of pigment that seem to argue with each other across the surface before arriving at something that feels, inexplicably, like resolution.

We visited his Fishtown studio on a gray November morning to talk through the portfolio he's been building over the past three years, and to understand how a self-described "color obsessive" thinks about making art that is unapologetically abstract in a moment when the market tends to reward the legible.

The Work

"People want to know what it is," Jack says, gesturing at a large canvas that fills an entire wall. "And I understand that impulse. But I'm more interested in what it does to you. How it moves. What it triggers. Abstract art isn't asking you to see something specific — it's asking you to feel something you can't name."

His recent series explores the visual grammar of urban decay — Philadelphia's abandoned buildings, overgrown lots, and repurposed industrial spaces rendered through color relationships rather than representational imagery. The influence is there if you look for it: the layered rust of Kensington's brick, the chemical greens of Chester's industrial waterfront, the particular blue-gray of a Philadelphia winter sky.

The Process

Jack works in layers, sometimes over months. A painting that looks like it was made in one aggressive session is often the result of dozens of sessions, with periods of the canvas being covered, sanded back, repainted, and reconsidered.

"The best moments are when I've almost ruined it," he says. "When I've overworked something and it's dead, and I have to go back in and find it again. That's where the interesting things happen."

The Business of Being an Artist

Jack is measured when the conversation turns to money. He works a day job in graphic design. He sells commissions through his website and periodically through gallery shows. He doesn't romanticize the hustle.

"I'm not going to pretend it's easy or that I have it figured out. But I'm painting, and people are buying, and I'm getting better. That's enough for now."

Jack Vanzet's work can be viewed and purchased at jackvanzet.com.