MUSEUM EXHIBITION OF THE WESTERN NEW INK ART PIONEER ALFRED FREDDY KRUPA

6th of November - 1st of December 2019

The Karlovac City Museum (GMK, est. 1904) in its Gallery department (Vjekoslav Karas Gallery) is organizing "Modern Ink Painting" (Moderno slikarstvo tušem in Croatian), a large one-man museum exhibition by the contemporary master of the New Ink Art Movement Alfred Freddy Krupa.

This line-up of the work originally entitled "Exhibition of Award-winning Drawings" includes selection of 53 works by this painter from 2012 to 2019, which is precisely the period in which this multidisciplinary artist experienced international affirmation and recognition for his many years of pioneering work as part of one of the most current and of one of the most interesting painting movements - New Ink Art, judging upon results today at the world auctions.

This exhibition selection contains a wide range of works from those of a small, intimate format over the traditional elongated rolls of thin mulberry/rice paper to a large "gallery" size ink on raw canvas.The motifs include landscapes, veduta, works inspired by Japanese wood-carvers, the current personal and social situation, nudes/figures and animals... His genuine unique interpretation of the various amalgamated art forms and styles create a link between the established genre(s) and many new questions that concern contemporary art in general and in particular the New Ink Art movement. Often at the level of deep and symbolic significance.

The curated selection (Vranković, Goreta) of 53 New Ink Art ink works is on display, that fact makes this exhibition the largest one-man show of the Western New Ink Art movement in the world.

Krupa's inks can be found in significant museum collections such as the TATE Britain Library in London, the Modern Gallery (MG) in Zagreb, the Croatian Academy of Science and Arts (HAZU)- Cabinet of Graphics,the Orange Regional Art Gallery in Orange NSW-Australia, the Silesian Museum in Katowice in Poland and elsewhere.

His works have been presented and awarded on 6 continents and featured by various national and international media (from the USA to China), including major art and culture magazines such as the British Aesthetica and the Chilean bilingual Arte Al Limite.

The author of the installation is Aleksandra Goreta and of the preface is the art critic, art historian and archeologist Ante Vranković. The exhibition, including a bilingual (English-Croatian) catalog, was realized with the funds of the City of Karlovac. The exhibition is opened by the deputy major of Karlovac A. Navijalić.

The Gallery Department of GMK was founded in 1954 by merging the Painting Gallery of the City of Karlovac (since 1975 known as the Vjekoslav Karas Gallery) with the Karlovac City Museum (GMK). The gallery itself was founded on July 12, 1945, as the first gallery institution in Croatia after WWII.

About the artist:https://www.wikiart.org/en/alfred-freddy-krupa (mladen.krupa@gmail.com)

Photo in attachment: Dinko KaFotka Neskusil