Still life 1985

Curator: Take a look at "Still life" by Samuel Buri, painted in 1985, featuring vibrant colors in acrylic on canvas. It's hard to miss with the strong impasto strokes. Editor: Well, hello, electric picnic! The first thing that jumps out at me is how utterly joyous this painting is. A celebration of colour and form, but almost...uncontrolled. Does it remind anyone else of summer fruits and Grandma's tablecloth? Curator: It definitely possesses a raw energy! It’s described as Naive Art, which aligns with that sense of unrefined, untamed creativity. Look at the circular forms and their associations: fruits and berries are age-old symbols of the abundance of the earth and earthly delights. What is Buri telling us about pleasure and consumption? Editor: It's almost like the colours and textures are wrestling each other for attention, each element daring to be brighter and bolder than the last. Like an adolescent shouting loudly without consideration. You can almost feel the sheer joy in applying the acrylic paints. Do we consider naivety the key here? Or can the composition and colour choices offer something else? Curator: The application of impasto here brings such life, like capturing light shimmering on fruit skins. The very thickness of the acrylic reminds me of the luscious ripeness it depicts. Considering the era of Post-Impressionism to which Buri's been associated, there’s something beyond childlike play at work, surely? Editor: Maybe it's both. He's harnessing that playful spirit and channelling it into something intentional, the fruits as representations of something less straightforward: family? Home? Our innate relationship with earthly gifts and, perhaps, the inevitable letting go? The ripe fruit soon spoils, of course... Curator: Yes, it certainly hints at a cycle. Looking closely at the forms and juxtapositions encourages reflection and not just sensory pleasure, perhaps an undercurrent that captures the transience of moments. It has certainly captured my attention more than expected! Editor: Mine too. So maybe there’s something beautifully bittersweet about this vibrant "Still life" after all. It's almost melancholic, cloaked in audacious, joyful strokes. Food for thought indeed, and I am definitely hungry.