The Arm/Hand Study. Lilian (7.12.1993) 1993

Alfred Freddy Krupa made this drawing, "The Arm/Hand Study" using a sanguine crayon. You can almost feel the artist feeling his way across the paper. See how the delicate lines of the crayon shade into and out of the light. I wonder, was the artist looking in a mirror, scrutinizing his own arm? Or perhaps a friend or model was sitting nearby, patiently holding out their arm so it could be captured on paper. I imagine the artist, squinting, tilting their head, and trying to really understand the forms they saw, while translating them into line and shadow. That rich red crayon is such a basic material, yet it can express so much, all those fine lines accumulate into a volume and weight. Drawing is a very direct way to connect with the world – just you, a stick of pigment, and a surface. It's an ancient form of expression, and artists have been learning from each other through drawing for centuries.