Flowing River, 36" x 48"

See more paintings from the Flowing Color Collection

James Nowak’s Flowing River, part of his Flowing Color Collection, is less a painting than an experience of movement captured in stillness. At first glance, the work dazzles with bold, uninterrupted colors—red like molten earth, blue like rushing water, yellow like sunlight breaking across a horizon. But within this vibrancy lies a gentle tension, a whisper of something deeper beneath the surface.

The river of color bends and sways, never linear, never still. It does not ask to be followed; it carries the viewer along, much like the course of a true river—sometimes calm, sometimes relentless, but always flowing. The black forms act as anchors, vast quiet spaces that give the colors something to press against, like silence that makes music possible. They are voids, yes, but also pauses—moments of reflection in the rush of motion.

Here, Nowak seems to be meditating on life’s ceaseless passage. The river becomes time, memory, and spirit all at once: currents colliding, weaving, parting, and rejoining in unexpected harmony. The painting breathes with both vitality and stillness, with the fire of change and the calm of permanence.

And yet, despite its depth, Flowing River retains a sense of joy. Its brightness resists melancholy; it reminds us that flow is not only loss but also renewal, not only erosion but creation. In the sweep of colors, we see resilience, play, and possibility.

Nowak’s genius here is his restraint. He offers no intricate detail, no distraction—only the essential, the elemental. By stripping away complexity, he allows the viewer to encounter something raw and eternal. Flowing River is not a picture of a river but the feeling of standing at one’s edge: watching, listening, and knowing that all things move, yet nothing is ever truly gone.