Princess Fawzia Fuad 2016

Gazmend Freitag made this pencil drawing, Princess Fawzia Fuad, in 2016. The subject emerges from the page through a series of delicate lines and smudges. The artist coaxes the figure into being by building up tone and texture through the layering of marks. I can imagine the artist in the act of drawing, gently coaxing and shaping the form through a repetitive process. The sharp point of the pencil meeting the slightly rough surface of the paper. It’s a dance between control and chance, where the image gradually emerges from the artist's intuition. The soft shading around the eyes lends her an air of introspection and quiet contemplation, as if she is lost in thought. The drawing itself is an intimate study of light, shadow, and form. The image sits within a long tradition of portraiture, yet it is also distinctly contemporary in its immediacy. Artists are always borrowing from each other, taking risks, and experimenting to create something new!