Alfred Freddy Krupa GCCR is a Croatian contemporary painter, master draughtsman, book artist, art photographer and art teacher. Multidisciplinary artist Alfred Freddy Krupa is considered a pioneering force and the western proponent in the New Ink Art movement, for which he has gained international recognition.
Family background
Alfred Freddy Krupa comes from a multiethnic Silesian family of long tradition in visual arts. His family appears in archives of the International Tracing Service as the registered victims of Nazi persecution. His grandfather and first mentor Alfred Krupa Sr. the former pupil of Józef Mehoffer was one of the 13 core artists of the Art of Croatian Antifascist Movement and founder of the Watercolor Biennal of Yugoslavia. His son Mladen Krupa created the portable metal steel bunker called Kruppa-M91 used during Croatian Homeland War, now under Croatian state protection. According to the Eupedia Krupa belongs to the rare Ashkenazi branch of haplogroup Q and through that paternal lineage is related to J. Robert Oppenheimer, Vilna Gaon, Henry Heimlich, Tony Kushner, Anson Williams, Nicky Oppenheimer, the Piątkowski h. Pomian family and other notables.
Education
Krupa graduated in 1995 at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb. Krupa also studied Art History at the University of Zagreb and in 1998/99 as the postgraduate research student at the Tokyo Gakugei University or Gakudai. In 2005 Krupa finished additional art education study and has been given formal permanent title of "Professor of Drawing and Painting" by the Croatian State Institute for Education
Artwork
Krupas work has attracted public and professional attention from the beginning. For the first time his name was introduced to the general public in 1990 at the then mega-popular Yugoslav weekly "Vikend/Weekend". In the same year his first solo exhibition was held. Since the early 1990s A.F. Krupa exhibited frequently. His works has been presented on multiple occasions together with artists such as Edo Murtić, Miroslav Šutej, Ivan Kožarić, Marijan Jevšovar, Mersad Berber, Đuro Seder, Ana Sladetić, Marino Tartaglia, Josip Vaništa, Vlaho Bukovac, Bela Čikoš Sesija, Dario Ortiz, Liu Yi and many others. Artfacts.net Global Artists Historical Ranking positioned A. F. Krupa around the 1300th place in 1997 based on the international exhibition history, with the similar rank for around 2 decades and in the TOP 10 Modern Ink painters. Internationally Krupa is known as a painter of portraits, so among other things, he portrayed Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and Rwandan King Kigeli V.. Significant/exquisite are his ink paintings, on rice paper using the technique Hakubyou. Krupa also enters into contemporary interpretation of Haboku and Hatsuboku and concentrates on essential and represents a simplified stylistic motifs. This visible/non-visible choice demonstrates, in effect, the strong productivity of Krupa at the level of deep and symbolic significance. Krupa, the creator of New Ink Art Manifesto, is considered the pivotal figure in Western New Ink Art movement. In the Manifesto Krupa describes his ink painting as an interpretation of western modern art with the means of East Asian ink technique, as a combination of contemporary painting and traditional Chinese-Japanese calligraphy. His work in ink is considered to be of vital importance for the global integrity of the Modern ink painting, and he is considered as one of the essential representatives of national and international present-day art, in particular of the New Ink Movement Always exploring an amalgamation of various styles, as well as weaving different connections between scientific and artistic theories, he creates ink-on-paper works that reflect a minimalist, mathematical approach. Each of Krupa's pieces are spontaneous, raw and direct, achieving a personal and authentic artistic signature. In his photographic works, Krupa demonstrates the same minimalist approach and philosophy, placing the focus on composition and contrast. Krupas original works on paper can be researched at Tate - London, Silesian Museum in Katowice, Modern Gallery, Zagreb, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts – Dept. of Prints and Drawings, Alfredo Guati Rojo National Watercolor Museum -Mexico City, Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia and other public, corporate and private collections. According to the Badan Rynkowych Institute survey report from 2007, Krupa appears among 70 most wanted currently working/creating artists in the future collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw. Alfred Freddy Krupa is included in the 36th edition of Who's Who in American Art and in the artist's database of the documenta in Kassel. Documenta is recognized as the world's most renowned and debated international exhibition of contemporary art. In 2016, as invited speaker Alfred F. Krupa held a rare public lecture on modern ink painting at the Dag Hammarskjöld University College of International Relations and Diplomacy during the Days of Japan. in front of Japanese and Croatian listeners In 2018 Krupa has become the first living Croatian artist to be included on Ranker’s list of famous painters. Ranker is popular Los Angeles based digital media company.
