...PAINT IT BLACK .....

.............The subject of the last post was the question of context - can an artifact exist outside of its context, can it be reduced purely to its own reality , its own component parts, no external references and still have meaning ? Its pretty obvious that the zebra crossing - the object in the last post - has no inherent meaning or value other than its significance as a pedestrian crossing ; it only achieves a reality as a cultural icon when placed in a secondary context , a stage setting for four iconic individuals on an album cover - so the album and the location becomes the reality for the significance of this particular crossing.

.............so lets consider an artifact , a painting that purports to exist entirely within its own frame of reference.

' Black Square ' was painted by Kazimir Malevich in 1915 , representing a complete break from anything that he previously attempted., establishing in his own words the concept of the ' zero of form '...
" ........a blissfull state of liberating non-objectivity drew me forth into the ' desert' where nothing is real except feeling."
Black square on white field, carrying abstraction to its ultimate geometric simplification, this square to Malevich symbolised a 'full void ', in that it showed how painting could fulfill itself unaided by any reference to a specific external reality. Malevich removes specific subject matter by shifting away from representation and mimesis towards the purity of mathematical geometry. And so it is viewed as such, independent of any external references in a gallery space that attempts an anonymous setting. The reduction of form to pure geometry - ' the void ' - what could be more abstract.

But have a look at the second photograph here......................

.........................the original exhibition of the canvass at the Last Futurist Exhibition in Petrograd in December 1915 - and notice where Malevich has actually placed the canvas - high up against the cornice, across the corners of the room.  Odd ? A whim ? Another comment on the rigidity of the gallery concept ?.....except that the reason , the meaning of the hanging,  is none of these. The corner of a room, high up , is the place in a Russian house traditionally reserved for the family icon , the equivalent within the Russian orthodox church to a picture of the Blessed Virgin , the Holy of Hollies.
                        Malevich here isn't just reducing painting to pure abstract form ; by placing the canvas in this specific location he is also arguing for the return to the purest form of spirituality, 'the void ', going beyond the accepted dogma of conformity , of organised religion to seek enlightenment  ......." I search for God, I search within myself for myself . God is all-seeing , all-knowing, a future perfection of intuition as the oenumical world of supra-reason " The meaning of the placement of the canvas would not have been lost on its audience.

                        The original location of the canvas here , lost in any subsequent gallery hanging , implies in its reference back to the icon it is both replacing and displacing that even in its most abstract form context cannot be ignored , and must be understood for a fuller appreciation of the artifact.