Gëzim Mekuli 2021

Gazmend Freitag made this portrait of Gëzim Mekuli with pencil on paper. Look at the way the lines hatch together, building up tone and volume. You can almost feel the give and take of the pencil on the paper. I wonder what Freitag was thinking as he made this work? Maybe he was considering how to build up the planes of the face. The marks around the eye sockets have a fragile touch; then a heavier darkness under the chin. It feels like he’s searching for a likeness, going over areas again and again, trying to catch something of the inner person. There’s real sensitivity here, and that makes me think of other artists who find expression through the simple act of mark-making. Every artist is in conversation with those who have come before. And hopefully with those who will come after. This drawing reminds us that the directness of the hand can still reveal so much.