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Mark Buku

The artistry of Mark Buku has been featured in Sunset magazine.

"I was born in September 1966. My parents are both artists yet my father, who is creative at whatever he does, is not a professional artist. I picked my artistic inspiration from my social milieu. My perception sharpened as I became critical of the world around me, but my academic training could not obliterate my earlier vision.

"I am however, not comfortable with tracing my artistic talent to childhood experiences because, to me, every child scribbles. My perception and discernment of things around me is always seen as part of creative processes, hence my passion for art. Painting, for that matter, defines my world. I clearly remember when, contrary to my family's expectation to study science at university, I took a U-turn to study art. This I summarize as: 'Though I no longer study nature, I thank God I create from nature.'

"I pursued painting at a university College of Art, and obtained BA (Art) Honors in 1994. I continued with a postgraduate program and obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree, from the same university, in 1997.

"My paintings cover both ends of the spectrum – representation and abstraction. A syntheses of these develops with the use of figures, integrating formal components of traditional myths and all other components of art. My personal experiences and perceptions culminate in emotions, resulting in a tender and passionate temperament that finds expression on the canvas. I do this developing a symbolic language. Central to my work is the subject matter. Certain ideological, intellectual and formal concerns are shared. Emotion and thought sought visual devices and vocabularies, thus developing a symbolic technique, which continues to define my world of art.

"I do not have a particular style - I have a technique that evolves from my temperament. I create out of every feeling I experience. A style will limit me as to how I express myself as much as I want to. People tell me they can't see me in my paintings. I tell them what they see in my painting is an inner expression of who I am. I express myself in oil and watercolor.

"I have won two awards, a European Community art competition award in 1997, and the prestigious Bartemeus Prize in the year 2000, just after a residency at the Vermont Studio Center in the USA. If I were not a painter, I would still do anything in a creative manner."