The Athlete of the Future 1913

Kazimir Malevich made this gouache and pencil drawing, The Athlete of the Future, at an unknown date. What strikes me first is the colour scheme: It's very simple, muted yellow, graphic blacks, and then these small dabs of bright red. It's like the painting is shy, but it can’t help but blush. The texture of the Athlete is something else, so much is implied. He isn’t smooth, the paint application is uneven. The surface of the black areas are opaque and full, while the yellow background has this translucent, washy, watercolour feel. And that red, it's punchy, almost sarcastic. The red mark at the top of the figure is like a strange flower, a mutation, growing out of the top of the head. What could it mean? I can see how the clarity and the geometry in Malevich relates to the work of Agnes Martin, with that same sense of inner space. Both show us a way of seeing and experiencing that moves beyond the concrete into the realm of feeling.