Sanny 2021

Gazmend Freitag made "Sanny" with paint on canvas. It’s the texture that gets me first. Look at the way Freitag lays down the paint, thick in some places, almost like he's wrestling with it, and then thin and transparent in others, especially in the background where it almost disappears. It feels immediate, like he’s trying to capture something fleeting. The brushstrokes are visible, raw, and you can almost feel the artist's hand moving across the canvas. It’s like he’s not trying to hide the process, but embracing it, letting it become part of the story. The mark-making around the figure's limbs, for instance, is so gestural, so full of energy, that it almost vibrates. This kind of raw, emotional honesty reminds me of late Guston, or maybe even some of Marlene Dumas’ more vulnerable portraits – artists who aren't afraid to show the messy, complicated reality of being human. It's not about perfection, but about truth, and that’s what makes it so compelling.