Croatian Faust 1982

This is Boris Bućan's 'Croatian Faust', and what jumps out is the way he's wrangling with shape and color. Look at that devilish figure on the left with its checkered skin and tail, seems like Bućan’s really thinking about how to build form, bit by bit. There’s such a satisfying back and forth between the red and white and the black and grey; it's like a visual argument being played out on the surface. The colors aren't just sitting there, they're doing something. Each little square has a job to do. That checkerboard motif, it’s not just decorative, it's structural. It creates this weird tension, this sense of unease that runs through the whole piece. Like a game of chess where the stakes are your soul. It feels related to someone like Victor Vasarely. What you are left with is this, how can art invite us to see and feel the world in unexpected ways?