The boats at the Kupa river 1993

Alfred Freddy Krupa made this painting of boats at the Kupa River using ink on paper. Look closely at the strokes of ink; how they define the shapes of the boats with such speed and confidence. You know, when I look at this, I think about the act of translation – how the artist transforms a three-dimensional scene into a two-dimensional image. There’s a real conversation happening between the artist, the subject, and the paper. It's like Krupa is thinking: "What is the essence of a boat?" And then he captures that essence with a few simple lines. His marks really remind me of Chinese ink painting, the way the artist uses the brush to capture something essential and fleeting. I bet Krupa would agree! After all, these are the kind of conversations artists have with each other, across time, inspiring each other to see the world in new ways.