In the unbearable heat of a summer afternoon 2020

Alfred Freddy Krupa made this painting with brushes, on canvas. The marks are gestural, loose, and layered. The brushstrokes feel alive, swirling with a kind of wild abandon, yet held together by the weight of those dark blue birds. The sky looks like it’s on fire, rendered in reds, oranges, and strokes of white, like the heat haze of a summer day. I can imagine Krupa layering the paint, maybe wiping it away, then building it up again, trying to capture the fleeting moment, the feeling of that unbearable heat. I sympathize, I’ve been there. The birds feel almost stenciled, each one a unique shape cut from the same dark cloth. Look at the texture where the white paint meets the dark horizon. That one little mark of orange, just there, singing out! It’s like one artist is in conversation with another. Painting can be a form of embodied expression. It’s a constant exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another's creativity.