Studio-Phoenix Blogspot: Natalia Kiceec-Painting Jazz Icons

This months cover, version #3
photo by K.K.W, taken @
Central Park, 2010
fujifilm 400

Natalia Kiceec: Painting Jazz Icon's- By K.K.W. "I have chosen painting as one possibility to express and explore myself through the symbols that were constantly springing and talking , and I was supposed to translate them into my own inner language. I am a researcher by nature, I am curious and I want to learn and change. My interest is directed to the Cosmos , the stars, the ancient civilizations and sacred teachings, astrology, homeopathy, meditations, DNA changes, the Era that we just walked into and the expansion of consciousness. The opus 'Mirrored in the sounds' is dedicated to a group of few Jazz musicians and is a kind of a farewell with the old world, a farewell of human's agony and illusions in that black and white, divided world of differences and huge contrasts". Natalia Kiceec

Natalia Kiceec. Photo courtesy
of the artist.

"So what" #4, 50x65 cm 2009
oil on canvas

It's written and agreed upon that an Icon(from Greek, eikon)is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity. Natalia Kiceec's "Opus Ogledanivo Zvucite" is a stunning, pop-culture, modern-graphic example of this. Her paintings brings together elements of the east(she's from Ohrid, Macedonia)and the west. The images are intense and realistic while the brush work is soft, delicate, precise, with a sometimes bold use of chiaroscuro("India", 'off minor' & " Lady day come"). The painting entitled "India-my favorite-is a great example of this, similar to the visual style of Caravaggio. The method is in a way perfect for the subject, as all the musicians lived hard lives, faced many challenges, and seemed to hover between light & dark. The paintings are more then likely based on a photograph(the image of the person), while the surrounding portion of the canvas is her design(similar to certain types of advertising & Art Nouveau use of space). Some of the little details on the canvases and geometric patterns, as well as the colors may have been in the moment, after the musicians image was finished. Her often use of the circle, aside from iconography, could be looked at as perfection, power, completeness, her interpretation of the music. While the color choice is often a combination of bold and slightly somber hues, that seem to complement each other and the subject. Her use of black & white for the musicians image's is classic, respectable and elegant, given all of them are dead. Natalia's Jazz icon paintings also have a sense of motion, of sound-waves, notes, rhythm and reverberation's. The look of this is more akin to, in a musical sense, the Duke Ellington form as oppose to Bird or Miles Davis. By this you could see her as a person who likes order but understands, to some degree, the nature of chaos(which is change, living in the moment, etc). Natalia's paintings are a visual delight and a representation of how far Jazz-and therefore elements of African American culture-have traveled. Jazz, like other art-forms, is a religion all its own, replete with saints and sinner's alike. Her work is stunning to behold. If you would like to know more go to: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1064175397#!/profile.php?id=1064175397&sk=wall "Art is the reason, art is the way" Nazdravje!