Yet again, Samuel Bak shows an innate talent and mastery of more than on medium and the power he holds behind his images. One shelf is crammed with a bottle, a pitcher, a kettle, and some pears while the rest of the shelves sit empty, one even falling slightly. There’s a loneliness that permeates through every aspect of this piece. There’s no one spot I can pinpoint that makes that feeling erupt in my chest, but it’s there. It could be the colors, it could be the theme, and it could be absolutely nothing at all intentional on Bak’s part.
His use of crayon is fascinating because he uses it to create depth and texture through lines. It looks as if he is using the same color throughout the piece, but because of the differences in the colors where it’s placed, it looks like many different colors. The greatest moment for the crayon is in the lower left-hand cube of the shelves. It creates wood grain, it creates shadows, it’s doing a little bit of everything. My eyes can’t help but gravitate towards that moment in the piece, even though there are other arguably more interesting places in the painting.
Camila Martorell (Guest Writer)
BAK a Day, September 3, 2023
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As the war continues and the deaths mount, the shelves become empty. The shelves that were crammed with objects that have represented peace and calm, as well as death and destruction.
The huddle at the base of the otherwise empty shelves. How important it is for the artist to create a visual language that allows each of us to find a vocabulary to describe the brokenness of our world.
The images and reports on TV seem distant and allow us to change emotional channels.
Bak’s suggestive images remain as unanswered questions.
Are our tentative answers adequate to repair and save our world?
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