Suprematism 1915

Kazimir Malevich made this painting, Suprematism, with oil on canvas. Look at the tension between that perfect circle and those crackled, imperfect rectangles, floating, suspended in space. I can imagine him stepping back, squinting, maybe tilting his head, deciding where to place the next form. Each decision, each placement, a response to the last, like a conversation. He was trying to create something beyond representation, a pure expression of feeling. Those rectangles, like dark matter, feel dense and heavy. The paint is thick, almost like tar, giving them a tactile quality. That crackled surface is interesting, too. It adds a layer of age and texture, almost like a landscape seen from above. It reminds me of some of the work of Agnes Martin, who was also exploring pure abstraction, but with a very different sensibility. We build upon the ideas of the artists who came before us, and then push them in new directions. Painting is like that. It's always open to new interpretations, new possibilities.