Sam Leach

Albino Lobster, 2007
Oil and resin on linen
46 x 36 cm

Sam Leach’s painting of an albino lobster atop a digital clock display is typical of this young artist’s extraordinary works – finished most often with a slick layer of resin on their smooth surfaces – which update the still life traditions of the Dutch Renaissance. Leach says, ‘Using [this history] I examine how the construction of atmosphere through light, space and surface has been used to respond to an ambiguous attitude towards the creation and accumulation of wealth’.

About this particular work he adds, ‘Albino animals rarely survive without human intervention. Vulnerable to the sun and to predators … Albinos also have a touch of voodoo with an implied link to the spirit world. I like that whiff of irrationality.’

© The artist. Leach is represented by Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne, Sullivan + Strumpf Fine Art, Sydney and Peter Walker Fine Art, South Australia