Castle bridge and moonlight 2009

Curator: Welcome. We’re looking at Alfred Freddy Krupa’s “Castle bridge and moonlight” from 2009. It's executed in ink. Editor: Stark. My first reaction is how powerfully this image commands attention, with the stark contrast and minimalist elements. It’s rather unsettling. Curator: Indeed. The use of ink immediately brings to mind traditional calligraphy and its inherent connection to craft. The artist wields the medium to produce something… less functional, perhaps. Consider how the gestural lines play against the negative space, almost challenging our notion of a completed or ‘perfected’ piece. Editor: Yes, the stark black against the untouched white space is evocative. The circle in the upper left - it feels like a displaced moon. Above what? Perhaps the hulking geometric form could symbolize not a bridge, but rather, a ruined castle, a motif rife with the symbolism of faded glory. Curator: Or the moon might just be the offcut from the rest of the process. A little like subtracting away mass or like what you discard. What about how the varying widths of the brushstrokes show the artist’s deliberate choices about pressure and speed? The heavy verticals contrasting with delicate, almost hesitant strokes creates a kind of tension and it is materially the layering up of the artwork’s physical form. Editor: But don't you think that sense of tension, also suggests the anxiety inherent in transition and crossing over? The bridge form looms heavy but the stark symbolism makes it allude not only to place but also to some dark psychological crossing. The bold brushstrokes suggest a turbulent crossing; consider it metaphorically. Curator: You always look for dark undercurrents. The appeal for me here lies with its materiality. The qualities of the ink are really present and not mediated by heavy metaphor. It is an index of process. Editor: Ultimately, that may be the point; that we meet the artwork, however raw the production or reductive the signs and symbols seem to be. Curator: Indeed. Art that generates multiple, yet specific readings seems worth lingering with, whatever our theoretical disposition.