Noa 2015

Alfred Freddy Krupa made this drawing, Noa, with pencil, and it’s a study in seeing. I’m drawn to the marks that build this face. Look at the eyes, dark pools made by dense concentrations of lines, scratchy and nervous, and then note how they contrast with the openness of the cheeks. Krupa’s use of layering— almost like hatching but more organic—to create shadows and volume is particularly effective around the nose and mouth. These aren’t smooth gradients, but rather an accumulation of individual strokes that retain their own character. It’s as if Krupa is thinking out loud with his pencil, exploring the contours and planes of the face one line at a time. Maybe he had artists like Lucian Freud in mind as he drew. Either way, I love how the drawing leaves room for interpretation. It feels alive, caught somewhere between observation and invention.