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Andrew Manaylo
“Duet in the Dark”
Midnight Jazz art series
150 x 200 cm / diptych, mixed media on aluminum panel, backlight, 2023.
(Catalogue Number: DSC_4223-24)
About the Artwork:
"In 'Duet in the Dark,' I strived to embody the intimate interplay between musicians in the fleeting moments of creation that jazz encapsulates. Inspired by the raw, unscripted dialogues of a jazz ensemble, this diptych represents the conversational dynamic between light and shadow, harmony and dissonance. As the night progresses into the deep embrace of midnight, so does the dialogue within the music — and within my art — grow more profound. The contrasting canvases are my tribute to the dual nature of jazz: the visible and invisible, the audible and the felt, the structure and the freedom. With each stroke of the brush, I sought to capture the spirit of those midnight hours that are both fleeting and eternal, where every note played is a secret whispered, every silence a story untold."
The painting was created with acrylic paints on a uniquely textured composite aluminum panel.
Thanks to the use of spacers, the artwork “floats” on the wall in an aura of beautiful light, made possible by the app-controlled LED backlighting.
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"The diptych "Duet in the Dark" from Andrew Manaylo's "Midnight Jazz" art series is a visual allegory of jazz in its most abstract form — a duet of paintings that speak to each other and to the viewer in the hushed tones of the late night hours. The diptych format itself is an echo of the call-and-response nature of jazz, with each canvas engaging in a silent but profound conversation.
On the left, the lighter shades are interspersed with bold accents of gold and orange, like the bright brass of trumpets and the warm glow of stage lights against the cool, smoky air of a jazz club. On the right, darker tones dominate, suggesting the deep timbre of a bass or the shadowy corners of the room, where listeners are lost in the music.
"Duet in the Dark" is not merely a pair of paintings; it is a complex narrative captured in the abstract language of color and form. Manaylo's mastery of texture and contrast creates a sensory experience akin to the intimate ambiance of a jazz performance unfolding as the clock strikes midnight. The diptych's textured strokes and impasto technique convey the improvisational beats of jazz, while the interplay of light and dark mimics the dynamic range of a live session, from the softest whisper of a brush on a drum to the crescendo of a full ensemble. This is a visual representation of jazz that is as mysterious and multifaceted as the genre itself, inviting the audience to lean in closer and lose themselves in the rhythm of "Midnight Jazz."
Harrison Calloway,
Art critic, New York
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