Autumn on Korana river en plein-air (LOW RES.PHOTO) 1997

Curator: Well, here we have Alfred Freddy Krupa’s "Autumn on Korana River en plein-air," painted in 1997. It appears to be watercolor, though there may also be some coloured pencil work there. Editor: It's breathtaking in its tranquility, isn't it? A sense of peace just washes over me looking at it. The colors are muted, sort of dreamy... melancholy, almost, in the best possible way. Curator: It’s interesting you say that, because water often represents the unconscious, the place where memory and emotion reside. The way the tree’s reflection blends and almost merges is a classic symbol for that introspection, I believe. I wonder if this resonates for you? Editor: Absolutely. It feels like gazing not just at a river, but into myself. That central tree, bare branched and looming, anchors the entire image. Trees for me always recall time passing, and memory... Curator: And that reminds me of the specific choice of subject and date of execution: landscape painting *en plein air,* is not without some significance; artists such as Sisley sought to seize upon a transient truth - this specific painter at that very instant, with brush or coloured pencil in hand trying to secure permanence from the throbbing Heraclitean flux. I understand him trying to secure a landscape on site in that fashion, the pressure to resolve a picture that is present at that instant with a time pressure upon execution. A memento mori in some fashion too? Editor: That adds so much depth to what I felt intuitively. The urgency you describe is now there, too; that feeling like the beauty could slip away any second, if it were not for its artistic depiction. And in heraldry, water symbolizes purity and cleansing. So it’s this layered effect: introspection and cleansing all happening at once? It’s stunning. Curator: A synthesis, really. Perhaps Krupa's landscape is attempting to find what is permanently cleansing, through water’s transformative properties. We may find resolution, but there's also acceptance in viewing one’s mortality, like that of all those shedding autumn trees... all through water of that specific, pictorial kind... Editor: It's remarkable how much emotional and symbolic depth can be conveyed with such subtlety. I am now reminded too about Jung describing water representing a metaphor to be found, if it were possible at all. It makes you think, and truly *feel*. Curator: It certainly does. And that's the beauty of art, isn't it? This ability to touch us deeply on multiple levels. I believe we’ve barely scraped the surface with what Alfred Freddy Krupa is doing.