Suprematist Composition: White on White 1918 Kasimir Malevich Analysis

Suprematist Composition: White on White 1918 Kasimir Malevich Suprematism

A white form glides on a white expanse at the very threshold of visibility. The square is not exactly symmetrical and its lines imprecisely ruled having a breathing quality, generating a feeling not of boarders defining a shape but a shape without limits.

Colour is minimised although it is still present. You can see that there are two very different forms of white in the composition, and the surface is very worked. So, white is a way of taking away, of minimising colour itself and actually focusing on the painting. It signified the realm of higher feeling for Malevich and he saw it as a colour of infinity. Malevich breaks down and breaks with the use of perspective...that traditional tool to create the illusion of depth in the work of art although there is a kind of spiritual and spatial sense that is created by skewing the square form in the centre of the composition and the way its layered over the slightly warmer white ground. You can see the touch of the brush again and again and you can see the painting is a picture about the process of painting.

After the revolution, Russian intellectuals hoped that human reason and modern technology would engineer a perfect society. Malevich was fascinated by the airplane, an instrument of the human yearning to break the bounds of earth. He studied Ariel photography and wanted "White on White" to create a sense of floating and transcendence. He wanted to create an art free from materialism.  

Composition With Blue and Yellow 1929 Piet Mondrian

Composition with Blue and Yellow 1929 Piet Mondrian Oil on Canvas De Stijl

The theme of the black bands, the white field and the blocks of three colours: red blue and yellow becomes his Neo Plastic purities for expressing an underlying cosmic order through a dynamic balance between the opposing forces of the vertical and the horizontal.

The top left of the corner of the asymmetrical grid painted in flat yellow is elegantly balanced by a smaller area of blue. The strong black lines and rectangles of white separate the two primary colours creating a harmonious composition. Deceptively simple, this work sets shapes and colours in perfect equilibrium. The black grid creates a tight all over unity for the composition balancing the opposite forces of vertical=male, space, status, harmony while the horizontal=female, time, dynasty and melody. Scenes from the external world are banished as is the colour green, as it represents nature. This leaves only structural dynamics behind. A reductive purifying search for essential truths through a principle of absolute abstraction. No personal touch or individual expression, he seeks timeless truths. Machine like precision.

He was not interested in the formalism but the desire to bring harmony and order to all places in the environment. The interest in a reductive purifying art comes in part from his Dutch background, the rectilinear Dutch landscape (Holland is a grid) and the Calvinist theology of puritanism and iconoclasm that banished the representation of nature of God from the art of the 16th century.

Ai Weiwei-Sunflower Seeds 2010 Tate Modern

Sunflower Seeds is made up of millions of small individual sculptures, each apparently identical, but actually unique. However realistic they may seem, these life-sized sunflower seeds are actually carefully hand-crafted and hand painted porcelain sculptures. 
 Far from being industrially produced, they are the labour of many skilled hands in the Chinese city of Jingdezhen. Forming a carpet in the interior of the Turbine Hall’s vast industrial space, the 100 million seeds fill the space to creare a seemingly infinite landscape. 
Porcelain is almost synonymous with China and, to make this work, Ai Weiwei has used and manipulated traditional methods of crafting what has historically been one of China’s most prized exports. Sunflower Seeds invites us to look more closely at the ‘Made in China’ phenomenon.

Visit the Tate Modern for free to see this amazing sculpture for yourself!!

Who Said Art Doesn't Last Forever?? Take a look at these everlasting creations....

Who said art doesn't last forever? Well, these people have got other ideas!! These tattoos are of famouse paintings and works of art form many different artists. Im not sure I would fancy getting one of these done, can you imagine how much it would hurt?! I think I will just stick to going and seeing them in the art gallery but these are too amazing for me to just let them pass by so I thought I would share them with you.

Guernica by Pablo Picasso

Van Gogh

One of Raphael's Angels

Salvador Dalí

Starry Night-Van Gogh



Wassily Kandinsky



Katie Corbin-"It's Not My Boyfriend's"-Artist Profile and Interview

It's Not My Boyfriend's by Katie Corbin

After visiting Unravel 2011, a festival of knitting on the weekend, I came across the amazing artist and designer Katie Corbin. The knitted motorbike "It's Not My Boyfriend's" was made whilst Katie Corbin was still at university. Here is an artist profile and an interview with the artist herself:

Katie Corbin is mainly a painter but also works in all areas of Art using a range of materials. She began her formal training studying Fine Art at the University of Portsmouth (UK) and graduated in 2009. For her degree show, she bought a Chinese 125 motorbike from a scrap yard and covered it in wrapped and knitted wool. The idea for this developed after she was inspired by Yarn Bombing, Elaine Bradford and Christo and she began experimenting herself with wool. During an assessment, Corbin's tutor asked how she was going to develop her work and jokingly Corbin said "I might wrap a motorbike!" Having no knitting experience prior to this, she taught herself to knit using YouTube tutorials and because of this, the motorbike not only shows the process of wrapping but the improvement of her knitting. After deciding to base her project on gender and stereotypes, it was named 'It's Not My Boyfriend's' because people assumed that it wasn't hers, which is the point of gender stereotyping. Following her degree, she trained as an Art teacher whilst continuing to knit and learning how to master to crochet too. Currently, Katie Corbin is planning new projects involving wool so watch this space!!!



Here is an interview with the artist herself, Katie Corbin and One Girls Wanderlust:
If you weren't an artist/designer, what could you see yourself doing as a career? I love teaching Art! Alternatively, I would like to have done set design or some form of creative writing.


What advice would you give someone trying to break into the industry? Be proactive and get networking! I volunteered at a local gallery, went to artist talks, visited local and national exhibitions, etc. It's so important to get you and your work out there. Talk to people - the best ideas come from the most random places!


Where is your favourite city to travel to and why? Venice in Italy! I went there in 2003 and visited the Venice Biennale, which was amazing! The architecture, food, culture, pace of life...everything was just so beautiful. I loved visiting Murano (venetian glass island) and Burano (lace making island).


Who is your favourite artist and why? I have quite a few but one of my favourites is a Brazilian artist called Cildo Meireles. He creates conceptual art, installations and sculptures which are fantastic! I went to an exhibition of his in Tate Modern and I loved how engaging it was. The work was quirky, inspiring and interactive with clever concepts.


If you could make anything in the world, time and money no limit, what would it be? I think it would have to involve some form of yarn bombing on a massive scale. Maybe knit/wrap an entire gallery...Tate Modern perhaps? I'd love to do something that involves knitting enthusiasts everywhere to join in...maybe an event to rival Anthony Gormley's 'Fourth Plinth'


Describe yourself in one word! Animated

Street Style Videos Part 2-The Sartorialist

Street Style Videos Part 1-Facehunter

This is a video about Yvan Rodic, the man behind the website www.facehunter.blogspot.com. Check it out!!!





Este video es sobre Yvan Rodic, el hombre que dirige la pagina de web www.facehunter.blogspot.com. Echale un visitazo!!!