Gabriele on the bamboo bed 2 2008

Gazmend Freitag made this drawing of Gabriele on a bamboo bed in 2008. The hatching marks build up this intimate bedroom scene, like thoughts layering on top of each other. There are patches of white where the surface is left bare, creating the impression of light on skin and a feeling of incompleteness or uncertainty. The mark-making has a tentative quality and a sense of searching. The artist is feeling their way through the subject, discovering it in the process of drawing. The thin washes and delicate lines create a sense of vulnerability and exposure. Look at the way the lines that define her hair bleed into the background, or the soft rendering of the face, which give the impression of a figure dissolving into the space around her. Artists like Lucian Freud come to mind. Freitag seems to embrace the ambiguity and multiple interpretations that are possible within the painting process.