The cat 2017

Alfred Freddy Krupa made this drawing of a cat in ink on paper. There's something so immediate about the way the image emerges, as if Krupa is thinking on the page. The process is really visible. The texture here is all about the flow of the ink; pooling in some areas, delicate drips in others. Look at how the darkest marks define the cat's face, the strokes suggesting its whiskers and the turn of its head. The tail stands upright, almost like a question mark. It's pretty minimal but, man, does it capture the essence of “cat-ness!” This reminds me a little of Cy Twombly’s line work, where the gesture is everything, you know? Where the energy of the hand becomes the image. And it's funny, because even though it’s simple, you can still feel so much of the artist’s personality.