Porträt III 

Editor: This is *Porträt III*, a drawing by Karl Wiener. There's something really intriguing about how unfinished it feels, especially the hair, juxtaposed against the more detailed shading of her face. What strikes you when you look at this work? Curator: That "unfinished" quality you picked up on resonates deeply with me. It's as though we've caught a fleeting glimpse, a whisper of a presence rather than a fully declared statement. It’s vulnerable, raw. It reminds me of sifting through old family photographs and sensing a life beyond the frozen image. Notice the contrast between the hatched lines in the background and the stippling on the face; do you see how that adds to the mood? Editor: Yes, I see that! The background almost feels agitated compared to the serene, almost melancholy, expression. Curator: Exactly! And consider, what stories might those eyes hold? What's she looking towards or away from? Perhaps it mirrors Wiener’s own internal searching – or a captured moment of the subject's life. Or perhaps both. Maybe art allows us to ask a thousand questions without demanding answers. Editor: That's beautifully put! I hadn’t thought of it that way, as less a portrait and more like an introspective journey. The imperfections and incompleteness become the strength. Curator: Indeed. It is less about perfection and more about presence, an echoing resonance, of selfhood maybe... It invites you to participate, to co-create the narrative, rather than passively observing it. We’ve both painted something into the gaps of *Porträt III*, wouldn’t you agree?