Untitled (advertisement for deep fryer) c. 1950

This Untitled advertisement for a deep fryer was made by Robert Burian using photography. There is a crispness to the image, a hyperreal focus that elevates a mundane object to a thing of beauty. This is all about surface, as the material properties are the focus here. The metallic sheen of the fryer and basket take center stage, reflecting light in ways that mimic the textures of a modernist still life. See how the light catches on the fryer's lid? This reminds me of Giorgio Morandi's paintings of bottles. Burian, like Morandi, finds a kind of abstract poetry in the everyday, celebrating the forms and volumes of the objects that surround us. He reminds us that even an advertisement can be a form of art, if approached with the right eye. Just as painters play with colour and composition, Burian sculpts with light and shadow.