"Jazz Players" Colorful Oil on Canvas

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This wonderful life-breathing artwork, entitled "Slim & Shorty," uses a mixed technique of knife and brush and embodies the symbiosis … Read more This wonderful life-breathing artwork, entitled "Slim & Shorty," uses a mixed technique of knife and brush and embodies the symbiosis between painting and music.

The profiles of the musicians, face-to-face, inspire a visual dynamism and an invitation to be swept away. This backlighting technique renders the characters both present and absent; with sparse light impacts on their silhouettes, they remain suggested rather than detailed, like the sound of a saxophone filling the space without tangible presence.

The brass instruments, reflecting gold and sunlight, become the actors, taking over the stage. The knife technique contrasts with softer brushwork areas, reflecting the diversity of textures found in jazz music, from velvety to uneven.

In the chromatic realm, the artist wields his palette as dexterously as a musician handles his instrument. His colors burst forth, exploding like fireworks. The artist's strength lies in making the background a focal point. There's joy, passion, generosity, and movement. The dominant gold and orange color in the center, surrounded by red, blue, and a hint of green, becomes the visual orchestration of the sound of saxophones and, by extension, the energy of jazz.

How do you make the impalpable palpable?
This is the question the artist confronts us, an invitation to "see" music. By painting not only form but also raw emotion, Niewoehner demonstrates the effectiveness of painting as a medium for not only representing reality but also sublimating it, infusing it with a dynamic and exuberance that transcends two-dimensionality. It uses the senses of sight and hearing in a synesthetic experience that moves the soul and uplifts the spirit, proving that art can be as powerful and spellbinding as the music coming out of the saxophones it depicts.

- B I O -
Ev (Everett) Niewoehner was born in rural Iowa and moved to Colorado with his family at age ten. He graduated from Fort Collins High School and later earned history degrees from Colorado State University and the University of Northern Colorado. After four years of teaching at the high school level, he owned and operated an art gallery in Los Angeles. Teaching opportunities brought him to Tennessee, where he taught for twenty-one years.

After retiring from teaching, Niewoehner has been able to concentrate on his first love, oil painting. Although working with many genres, he has focused on three areas--music-themed paintings, surrealism, and urban/rural scenes. Niewoehner has exhibited in many galleries, universities, and art centers in the US. He is a member of the Allied Artists of America, American Impressionist Society, American Society of Marine Artists, Oil Painters of America, Orlando Museum of Art, and Palm Coast Arts Foundation.

Niewoehner lives in Ormond Beach, FL, where he maintains his studio. See less