Waltraut 2014

Editor: Here we have Gazmend Freitag’s oil on canvas titled "Waltraut," created in 2014. I find the painting to be rather unsettling; the gaze feels so direct and confrontational. What’s your read on this piece? Curator: Considering the period and neo-expressionist style, it’s relevant to explore how this piece engages with historical portrayals of the female nude, often by male artists and for a male gaze. Freitag, working in a contemporary context, seems to be deliberately challenging this. The subject's confrontational gaze shifts the power dynamic, questioning the traditional objectification. How does this subversion relate to the art market and its reception, especially in relation to gender and representation? Editor: That’s a good point about the reversed power dynamics. I hadn't thought of it in relation to market reception though, more as an individual statement. Curator: Precisely. Think about who controls the narrative within institutions and how figurative works are displayed. This work clearly engages in a dialog with traditional museum displays of nudes; placing agency on the subject through composition, color and confident brushwork. The choice to title it "Waltraut," gives this figure agency in a world in which names were absent and only bodies were on view. Where does that make you reflect? Editor: That makes me consider who it is intended to be for; the power of giving someone a name and telling them that this is for *them*, and how it shifts the whole narrative. It is powerful that the name places personhood on a body that has previously only had sexual implications. Curator: Yes! And considering Freitag’s Albanian background, do you see a relationship in this presentation of the figure to socio-political discourses from Eastern Europe? Editor: Hmm, not immediately. I need to research Eastern European socio-political context within art in more detail. But thanks, I’ll definitely look into that! Curator: Absolutely! Thinking about those aspects makes art a richer experience, I believe.