Nico 

Editor: This intriguing piece is titled "Nico" by Alfred Conteh, rendered in graphite, but the date is not known. The portrait figure looks poised, perhaps a little wary. The contrast of realistic lines of the figure versus the fluid and evocative background makes it unique. How might we approach the visual construction of this portrait? Curator: Indeed, let’s consider the work's inherent visual language. First, observe how the figure is framed—or perhaps, intentionally unframed—by the vertical drips of color. This fracturing disrupts any singular, fixed reading. What do you make of the rendering of the figure in graphite versus the watercolor effect of the background? Editor: It seems to emphasize the figure's presence but also suggests impermanence, as though they might dissolve back into the abstract space. Curator: Precisely. Consider the lines themselves – crisp in places, especially defining the face, and more suggestive elsewhere. Where do we perceive tension, visually speaking, within the composition? Editor: The sharp definition around the face seems to fight against the overall dissolving quality of the piece, which draws your eye and then kind of loses the image. Is the formal structure deliberately undermining a cohesive reading? Curator: That push and pull, that inherent instability, is central to its effect. It calls attention to the constructed nature of portraiture itself. It isn’t simply a depiction; it is an articulation of seeing and being seen. Editor: That makes me look at the drawing as almost an idea of a portrait rather than simply someone sitting for a portrait. Thanks, I will certainly have a new approach after this conversation. Curator: And I, in turn, appreciate the opportunity to revisit such subtle nuances within Conteh’s deliberate choices in “Nico”.