Nadége with bag 2013

Gazmend Freitag painted this portrait, Nadége with bag, with oil on canvas. The way the colours have been applied here, so directly, gives us a sense of art as an activity, a way of working through something. Up close, you really get a feel for the texture. It’s a pretty physical painting - Freitag isn't trying to hide the way he’s moving the paint around, and you can clearly see the marks of the brush. Look at the way the white of Nadége's shirt almost blends into her skin. There are touches of blue, green, and yellow that gives it a real feeling of depth. I’m reminded of artists like Alice Neel, who also managed to capture something very intimate and immediate about their sitters. Art is at its best, I think, when it leaves room for interpretation and invites us to bring our own experiences to the table.