Jazz (2023) is a standard-sized acrylic painting featuring familiar yet faceless figures placed across various planes of the composition. They stand in an abstract environment filled with shades of brown and blue, blended into the diverse geometries and characters that populate the piece. The artwork was created as a simple challenge: to turn music into a painting.
I chose jazz because of the deep culture behind it. The figures are emblematic of jazz clubs and the Roaring Twenties, yet each holds a unique place not only in this work but in others like it. The man in the background’s trumpet seems to merge with him and his outfit, painted in similar colors. The bassist’s strings, rendered in silvery paint, appear to pop out and add texture. The singer is the only figure wearing pure white — an angelic voice is almost audible through her depiction.
While many paintings are divided into foreground, midground, and background, this piece seems to have many different planes to stand on. The flowing piano sits in the foreground but becomes secondary once the viewer’s eye catches the figures further back. In the farthest background, only basic shapes—squares, rectangles, and circles—remain, capturing the simple complexity of the musical genre that inspired the piece.
My aim in creating this painting was to share the genre I love most through the art form I know best. While I may not be able to play the trumpet like Armstrong or sing like Fitzgerald, being able to capture even a fragment of their soul and rhythm through visual art was vital to this work’s creation.
By Nina Noguera