Easter Morning Sun 2020 (COVID-19 artwork no.3) 2020

Curator: We're looking at Alfred Freddy Krupa’s "Easter Morning Sun 2020 (COVID-19 artwork no.3)", created with ink in 2020. It’s an arresting image. What’s your immediate reaction? Editor: Stark. The limited palette and frantic, almost violent brushstrokes evoke a feeling of intense anxiety. Is it meant to portray that particular Easter as bleak? Curator: Considering the title’s reference to COVID-19, that reading is certainly plausible. But look closer at the formal elements. The composition divides itself almost in half. Above, a skeletal dome; below, this field of...are they flowers? Editor: Yes, but deflated, bleeding red at their centers, drained of vitality. Note also how those flower stems reach upwards. Curator: The symbolic register here seems quite dense. Birds often represent freedom or the soul's flight. Here, they're predominantly black, perhaps a flock of ill omens gathering above this ravaged garden. It reminds me of plague imagery throughout history. Editor: Indeed. It is a modern memento mori of sorts, no? The dome above—is it representative of failed structures, perhaps even faith during times of crisis? I am seeing a crown, though it feels broken, powerless. Curator: One could argue Krupa constructs a visual metaphor where organic and architectural forms struggle to maintain structure amid chaos. The dominance of line over solid form enhances this feeling of fragility. The yellow and gold may speak to an ambition that falls flat. Editor: Despite the bleakness, I find something resilient here, an attempt to find light. Even in the decay, life, or its memory, persists in reaching towards the absent sun. Curator: Precisely. Through the work’s formal structure and the symbolic weight of these images, it serves not only as a lament, but also perhaps an assertion of life’s enduring impulse. Editor: A compelling intersection of personal response and cultural memory then, captured in swift strokes of ink.