ALFRED FREDDY KRUPA | INK ART
Alfred Freddy Krupa (b. 1971) is an award-winning, internationally acclaimed multidisciplinary artist, often described as a pioneering force and the western Master of the New Ink Art Movement. Art critics pointed out that ‘unlike most artists working, Krupa can make a genuine claim to being avant-garde.’
The grandson and the pupil of renowned Poland-born Jugoslavian painter and inventor Alfred Krupa Sr. (Alfred Joseph Kruppa 1915-1989, one of the 13 core artists of the Art of Croatian Antifascist Movement).
Krupa’s art first appeared in the eye of the general public when he was 19 years old in 1990 in the trendy Yugoslavian magazine “Vikend” (Weekend). In the same year, he exhibited at an exhibition of talented children and youth, and his first solo exhibition was held in autumn, including some of his earliest works in ink.
In 1992, Krupa was granted the Karlovac City stipend for talented students. In 1995 he graduated with MFA in Painting from the University of Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts (ALU). In 1996 he wrote a text which turned out to be the programmatic text of the New Ink Art movement. The original manuscript of the New Ink Art Manifesto today is the property of the document archive – the records and papers collection in Kassel, Germany (access number docA-97).
In 1998 he departed for Tokyo Gakugei University as the first Croatian painter awarded the Japanese Government Scholarship to research Japanese ink painting. In 2005 Krupa, after additional study, received the title of Professor of painting and drawing from AZOO – Zagreb (at the time State Institute for Education of Croatia). He has lectured at all education levels, from primary school to the university.
Since the year 1990, Krupa has been exhibited, collected, promoted, and awarded around the globe, including winning the 1st Prize at the International Art Award New Generations 2022 in Miami, FL, USA, the 1st World Award in Painting, and the title of the artist of the Year 2020 at the 13th Interartia Art Festival in Volos, Greece, the Modern Ink Painting Award at the 10th International Exhibition of Chinese Calligraphy and Ink Painting in 2021 /ICCPS in Tokyo, Japan, the Annual Award of the Croatian Association of Artists – Zagreb for 2016 among other.
Krupa has exhibited at over a hundred solo and group exhibitions in Croatia and worldwide. In addition, his original works are part of museum collections, including those of the TATE London, the MoMA in New York, and the National Museum of Modern Art (MG, Modern Gallery) in Zagreb, Croatia.
