Acrylic on Canvas
60 x 48 inches
This piece focuses on the genius of Thelonious Monk through the most important part of his artistry — his hands. Monk played with a style that broke every rule in jazz: sharp angles, heavy pauses, sudden bursts of color in the middle of quiet. I wanted the layered textures and fractured shapes in this painting to echo that same unpredictability.
A fun fact I love about Monk is that he often played with such force and intention that he would lift his hands completely off the keys before striking the next note — almost like he was resetting the entire universe before deciding where the melody should go next. That sense of tension and release is what I tried to capture here: the moment right before sound becomes sound.
Acrylic on Canvas
60 x 48 inches
This piece focuses on the genius of Thelonious Monk through the most important part of his artistry — his hands. Monk played with a style that broke every rule in jazz: sharp angles, heavy pauses, sudden bursts of color in the middle of quiet. I wanted the layered textures and fractured shapes in this painting to echo that same unpredictability.
A fun fact I love about Monk is that he often played with such force and intention that he would lift his hands completely off the keys before striking the next note — almost like he was resetting the entire universe before deciding where the melody should go next. That sense of tension and release is what I tried to capture here: the moment right before sound becomes sound.
