Suprematistinė Kompozicija 1923

Vytautas Kairiukstis made this painting, Suprematistinė Kompozicija, with oil on canvas. The painting shows a few abstract shapes––a blue square, a green half-moon, and a red sort of bent pipe––floating in a sea of black. Imagine Kairiukstis in his studio, pushing these shapes around, trying different arrangements until they click into place. You can almost feel the artist experimenting, like one does when puzzling out a thought, moving colours and forms until they land in the right spot. There’s a lovely tension, with the solid red form anchoring the composition and the blue square hovering above like a thought bubble. It’s a simple palette, but each color seems carefully chosen. It reminds me of Malevich and other early abstractionists, those cats were all trying to boil down painting to its essence. It feels like an ongoing conversation, a visual language that artists keep riffing on, each adding their own little twist, their own voice to the mix.