The group of river boats 2022

Curator: Up next we have Alfred Freddy Krupa’s, "The group of river boats," created in 2022, an ink drawing. Editor: Oh, it's wonderfully messy. Feels like peering through a rain-streaked window at some phantom fleet. Very evocative, and I love the raw energy of the strokes. Curator: The sketch-like quality, bordering on abstraction, is interesting when we consider Krupa's interest in immediate representation. You can see the process almost unfolding before your eyes, the materiality of the ink itself taking precedence. The hand lettering is particularly evocative as the initial step for an initial and rough sketch of a composition Editor: The 'hand-lettering,' almost a child’s scrawl… does that cheapen the work, or embolden it? Curator: Well, I think it reflects the blurring of boundaries between high art and what is considered, traditionally, simply the everyday sketch. He pushes at the boundaries of artistic convention. It also directly references the amateur quality, and process itself of sketching. The quick marks, splatters. This contrasts with what one imagines, perhaps, an urban centre to be, filled with rigid material objects made from metal and plastic. The materials have agency here! Editor: I like how you describe the city emerging despite itself. A battle of forces and materiality, one fighting free. You almost feel as if you should grab an umbrella. Curator: Precisely! It provokes a sensory awareness beyond the visual, highlighting the immediate experience of the urban. What the urban is actually *made* of. And it questions how artists perceive, select, and transform it using very basic, immediate, material inputs. Editor: For me it makes it feel all the more human and alive. Imperfect, certainly, but filled with possibility. A ghost city. Curator: That ghostly quality maybe is what makes us connect with it. Thank you. Editor: And to you, always a fascinating angle on things.