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Jazz

A man, rendered in warm tones, reclines in the wilderness surrounded by blue wraith-like women. Several female faces depict the phases of the moon.

Jazz, Untitled, 1979,

Oil on canvas, 84 in x 73 in

A series of paintings created by Nabil Kanso in 1978-79 based on jazz music and entertainment nightlife in New York City and New Orleans, where Kanso lived and worked in the 1970s.

 

The erotic violence reveals the artist's sense of awareness of social and cultural chaos. Fierce figures conceal erotic mysteries, while exposing forbidden pleasures within the swirling forceful and heavy brush strokes of burning reds, raw earth browns, smoldering golds, and screaming yellows. (Excerpted from Kanso's 1985 Jazz Exhibition catalogue). 

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