Closer (Kyiv) Jazz Concert Program 2018

Editor: This watercolor illustration is a program for the "Closer" jazz concert in Kyiv, created in 2018 by Kinder Album. The caricature-like quality and unusual imagery makes me smile; it's whimsical. What do you see in this piece? Curator: It's a fascinating image that immediately pulls at symbolic threads. We have this rather solemn, bearded figure playing the trumpet, and out comes... well, let's just say undergarments. What could they signify within the cultural context of a Kyiv jazz concert? Editor: That's a good question! Maybe it is a cheeky, lighthearted message about freedom and playfulness being "blown" from the trumpet's music, perhaps as part of the performance itself. Or perhaps some statement on the music itself? Curator: Precisely! Think about jazz as a form – its improvisation, its breaking of rules. Could these undergarments, presented almost as musical notes, be symbols of uninhibited expression? What is memory and cultural memory through dress or the absence of dress? What statement could that be making? Editor: So it’s potentially challenging established cultural norms, playfully through the visual symbols that the artist uses? The jazz performance is a symbolic conduit for expression? Curator: Exactly! This simple image, then, carries a rather powerful message about cultural identity and artistic liberation within a specific time and place. A simple art program revealing something significant about performance! Editor: This really helps bring nuance to what I first perceived as whimsical. Thank you. Curator: It’s a testament to how symbols, even unexpected ones, resonate differently depending on who is listening…or looking.