Harold Smith Contemporary African American Abstract Artist Creates The Color of Jazz Art

ARTIST STATEMENT:
"In my Jazz paintings, I attempt to capture the energy, spirit, and eclectic history that is a part of this music, Jazz. I listen to a lot of Jazz, I read a lot of books on Jazz, I watch a lot of videos on Jazz. Before I paint a piece I attempt to listen and study the music of that piece and from it, I attempt to let the piece create itself while I am simply the tool by which this creation takes place. That is the way I think Jazz was created. simply by living when and where they lived, the musicians soaked up all the culture, history, emotion, and feeling of the time and let the music create itself while they were the tools by which it was created to me, Jazz is celebratory. It celebrates the struggle of black people, white people, and america as a nation to reach an idea where the individuality of each person is free to express itself within a tapestry of voices converging into a chorus. If there is no celebration in the art, it is not Jazz Art. To me, Jazz is also painful. there is an inherent pain that spills forth, even in the midst of joy. It is the pain of disenfranchisment, of culture lost and not regained, of lives starting out behind the eight ball, and a people who simply want to live as free men and women. If there is no pain in the art, it is not Jazz Art."

Copyright Harold Smith March 2005