This week I was inspired by the abstract art of Kazimir Malevich and his 1915 art movement of Suprematism. I was interested in his philosophical approach that was trying to achieve pure artistic emotion by eliminating all representational elements and reducing them into simple shapes and lines.
For the past few years I have been fascinated with the use of harmonic armatures and dynamic armatures and I feel that Malevich’s work holds together because it aligns with these hidden grid patterns that transform chaos into structure. My hypothesis is that composition ultimately is the transmission of a human emotion through composition of a two dimensional image. Part 2 of my hypothesis is that the greatest emotion is translated into a visual composition through the representation of movement or gesture. I see this sense of movement in Malevich’s abstract geometric art and I see it in Henri Cartier-Bresson’s street photography. I think Malevich’s paintings reveal the hidden dynamics of a composition and that by studying his paintings we can gain insight into the foundations of photographic composition.
To celebrate the beginning of a new era in my home darkroom I went to the grocery store to purchase items I could use to make an abstract photogram inspired by Malevich’s Suprematism Art Movement. When I got to the checkout stand with spaghetti noodles, eggs, and cake decorating supplies the woman asked what yummy dish I was making. I laughed and explained that I was using these ingredients for a photograph.
To construct the image I had to establish some image-making rules that aligned with Suprematism. The rules I came up with were:
- Eliminate perspective vanishing points by avoiding horizontal horizon lines or the use of linear perspective
- Flat simple shapes and lines
- Avoid symmetry and create multiple overlapping vectors
- Avoid mimetic representation of identifiable scenes of reality – be non-objective
I thought the photogram would be the best kind of photographic image to use to emulate Malevich’s work. It emphasizes a flatness of shape. I did decide to use an egg to create an oval shape because I find that one to be thoughtful and reflective of the concept of creation.
I was happy with the first photogram but then I had to go a bit crazy by adding round shapes and glitter to the next composition. The egg shape in the first image reminded me of the orbit of planets and so I ended up breaking the rule of abstraction by creating an image that mimics something real.
It was interesting to see that the egg was translucent enough to reveal the yoke inside on the photogram. I was tempted to clean up the image in photoshop but after I did the image lost all life. The imperfections were what animated the graphic.
I think I will spend more time pursuing this line of work as I find abstract geometric art an thought provoking exercise.
