Lustucru 1989

Samuel Buri's "Lustucru" is made from bright swathes of gouache, divided by a screen of spindly black lines. The effect is almost like stained glass, if stained glass could be made in a hurry. That, in fact, is part of the point. Gouache is a readily available pigment, known for its opacity and quick-drying properties. Buri floods the canvas with it. The colours are vivid, and the compositions simple: a vase of flowers, a bowl of fruit. These are the typical subjects of still life painting, all the way back to the origins of the genre. But Buri gives it all a postmodern spin, by adding that layer of raw sketch marks. It is as though he is suggesting that even the most seemingly effortless paintings are, in fact, produced through labour. This invites us to think about not only the artist's work, but also the complex infrastructure of mass production that makes materials like gouache so readily available for all.