[Gallery Walk] An Invitation to Abstract Painting... Meeting 'Revolutionaries of the Art World' Malevich and Kandinsky

'Kandinsky, Malevich & Russian Avant-Garde: Art of Revolution Exhibition'

Kazimir Malevich's "Suprematism" (1915) hanging in the exhibition hall of "Kandinsky, Malevich & Russian Avant-Garde: Art of Revolution" held at Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dong-hyun] "What on earth is this painting...?" Sometimes, when visiting an art museum, you encounter works that make it completely impossible to tell what was painted. This is often the case with abstract paintings. When the canvas is filled only with geometric patterns and shapes of dots, lines, and planes, much like looking at a blackboard during a math class, it can give you a headache.

The difficulty usually arises not from the painting itself but from the human cognitive system. People mistakenly assume that the artwork depicts some object existing in the real world. The headache comes from trying to infer what the object might be by tracing back one's own experiences and memories. Yet, the imagery in the painting exists only within the artist's conceptual world.

Why do humans think this way? Perhaps Western-style painting bears some responsibility. From ancient cave paintings to early 20th-century Western art, humanity has depicted real objects such as people, animals, and things from nature on canvas. Reproducing objective subjects was the duty of painting. Therefore, it is perhaps a natural thought process to unconsciously assume that there is a corresponding object when viewing a painting.

Vasily Kandinsky.

However, in early 20th-century Russia, amid a revolutionary atmosphere, artists emerged who first broke this convention of painting. Their artistic movement is collectively known as the "Avant-garde," with representatives including Kazimir Malevich (1878?1935), Wassily Kandinsky (1866?1944), and Piet Mondrian (1872?1944). They moved away from imitating real physical objects and pioneered abstract painting that expressed personal subjective ideas through dots, lines, planes, colors, and textures.

An exhibition showcasing works by Russian Avant-garde artists is currently being held at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul. Titled "Kandinsky, Malevich & Russian Avant-garde: Art of Revolution," it features 75 works by 49 artists who shook Russia about 100 years ago.

Kazimir Malevich's Black Square (1915). It is regarded as the first complete abstraction not based on reality. Natural cracks formed in the thickly applied paint at the center.

Among them, Malevich, who played the most pioneering role, is relatively less known. His representative work is "Black Square" (1915, photo). It consists solely of a black square, 79.5 cm in both width and height, painted in the center of a white canvas. This piece is housed at the Tretyakov Gallery in Russia. Although it has never appeared on the auction market, its value is estimated to exceed 1 trillion won.

The reason "Black Square" is valued at an astronomical price is that it is the first complete abstract painting not based on reality. Malevich rejected painting as a means of reproducing nature and created the painting with the simplest composition, naming it "Suprematism." He declared, "Previous painting styles, frankly speaking, are all mere imitations of visual reality. Therefore, essentially, they have not progressed beyond primitive cave paintings. Suprematism, which is the expression of pure human spirit without recognizable forms of objects, is the true art suitable for the new era."

The exhibition hall of "Kandinsky, Malevich & Russian Avant-Garde: Art of Revolution" held at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts Gallery in Seoul.

Some might blame Malevich for making painting difficult. However, he was rather an artist who broke down the boundaries of art and opened up infinite possibilities. He elevated painting from an object of enjoyment to a field of philosophical contemplation. Some people talk about the birth of the universe when looking at "Black Square," while others liken it to Laozi's concept of "wu wei" (non-action). Malevich was the one who sowed the seeds of "postmodernism," allowing for multiple interpretations based on individual subjectivity.

At the Russian Avant-garde exhibition, visitors can see Malevich's early Suprematist work "Suprematism" (1915) as well as his Cubo-Futurist piece "Woman Playing the Piano" (1913). Alongside Malevich and Kandinsky, works by artists who greatly influenced 20th-century modern art, architecture, and design?such as Mikhail Larionov (1881?1964), Natalia Goncharova (1881?1962), and Alexander Rodchenko (1891?1956)?are also on display. The exhibition runs until April 17.