GUISttyle NullReferenceException error. what am I missing ?

Hi I am working with a array of GUIStyles. I am trying to check if the GUIStyle.normal.background at position # is null however I get as error before the check is done

 public static void GetSetStyle()
 {
          GUIStyle[] GUIICOStyle = new GUIStyle[5];
                      for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
                      {                         
     if (!GUIICOStyle*.normal.background) Debug.Log("it is null");*

}
}

“it is null” is not printed instead i get “NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object”
is there something else in the GUIStyle that needs to be set before I try to access the normal.backgrund ?

For others having the same problem.

  public static void GetSetStyle()
  {
           GUIStyle[] GUIICOStyle = new GUIStyle[5];
                       for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
                       {  
                       GUIICOStyle = new GUIStyle();
      if (!GUIICOStyle*.normal.background) Debug.Log("it is null");*

}
}