Karen Schweitzer 2018

Alfred Freddy Krupa made this pencil drawing of Karen Schweitzer. The delicate gradations are what hit me first—the soft touch used to create the skin tones, and the slightly darker, layered marks which model her hair. I imagine Krupa looking intently at his subject, carefully observing the subtle changes in light and shadow. You can see him squinting, trying to capture her likeness, grappling with the challenge of translating a three-dimensional person onto a two-dimensional surface. There’s something so intimate and thoughtful in the process. He’s not just drawing a face; he’s trying to capture something about her essence. It makes you think about other portrait artists, like Alice Neel, who were interested in more than just surface appearances. Ultimately artists are trying to express something about the human condition. I think that is an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. We are all just trying to embrace ambiguity.