Closer (Kyiv) Jazz Concert Program 2018

Curator: This piece is titled "Closer (Kyiv) Jazz Concert Program," created in 2018 by Kinder Album. It employs a fascinating combination of watercolor, ink, and drawing on paper. Editor: It’s rather whimsical! At first glance, I see a figure playing a piano, while another pours water on him from above—almost a baptism of musicality. There’s an immediate contrast between the geometric rigidity of the piano keys and the flowing watercolor textures. Curator: The juxtaposition is striking, indeed. The water imagery links to deeper cultural symbols. Water, as a primal element, is often associated with purification, transformation, and even the unconscious. In this context, the female figure's act of pouring water becomes an act of creative inspiration—a conduit to a flow state. Editor: I'm drawn to how the artist used watercolor. Note the layering and translucence, especially in the body of the piano player, blending figure and ground to create an ambiguous space, between inner thought and outer expression, where the borders of physical matter melt away. This layering speaks to the fluidity of jazz, maybe? Curator: Perhaps. Consider the three birds etched upon the piano player's chest, as they recall older narratives, where birds mediate between worlds—symbols of freedom, aspirations, and the soul's journey. Their presence inside of him might signify the interiority of music itself, a contained world. The figure as piano, resonating. Editor: It all feels very deliberate. From a purely formal perspective, the yellow of the ground and the watering hose provide a grounding vibrancy to the overall cool tones of the watercolor, establishing a very readable visual hierarchy. It's this controlled chaos, a harmony achieved by contrasting formal structures, that fascinates me. Curator: The choice to present this scene within a promotional context, "Closer (Kyiv) Jazz Concert Program," underscores the evocative ability of art to conjure memory and feeling, creating a sense of communal anticipation, almost like setting a stage for cultural immersion. Editor: I agree, the image has stuck with me longer than most concert posters. It’s rare to see this kind of imaginative leap translate so well from initial concept to material form. Curator: It prompts us to consider the concert as more than mere entertainment but rather as an emotional awakening. Editor: Yes, the symbiosis between performance and pure art shines clearly through here.