Nina Simone
Brandon Deener, 2023, Oil, pencil, oil pastel on paper, 26" x 20"
Brandon Deener’s background in music production and his love of jazz, with its spontaneity and immediate striving towards the whole in the present, inform much of his work. Neither caricature nor traditional portrait, the work appropriates the great jazz icon, as Deener cheekily manipulates Nina Simone’s neck (the elongated neck is a recurring motif of his oeuvre) in a way that suggests the intimacy with which he regards her. And yet, her gaze is cast aside, her mouth open as if poised to sing – hers is a life and genius that cannot be confined to the page, but exists always in the present of her music.