Supremother is based on two works: Black Square on a White Background by Kazimir Malevich and Grey and Black Arrangement No. 1: The mother of artist, known colloquially as the Mother of Whistler by James McNeill Whistler.
In his (still closely related to nature and realism) painting, James McNeill Whistler paid special attention to the issues of colour, often used very sparsely. However, one can already tell by the titles given to his works that colour scheme is the main subject and issue in his paintings. At the same time, the artist, by not naming the portrait of the mother directly, gave the painting a more symbolic and universal character. Therefore, the depicted figure can be perceived as a representation of feelings and states affecting every human being, such as transience, old age, grief, tranquillity, and anything else that the viewer can see in her image.
Kazimir Malevich, on the other hand, moving away from figurative painting, sought to find the ideal, the essence, the elemental particle of the piece of work in forms simplified to the maximum. Creating a new art movement called supremacism, he wanted to draw attention to what is most important in art. It is no longer the visual aspect of the painting, but the feelings it evokes in the viewer. He wanted to sacralise Black Square on a White Background by hanging it in the corner of the room where religious icons are traditionally placed. However, even this did not save the painting from deteriorating in quality: eventually, the surface of the painting began to crack. Just as the wrinkles in the portrait of Whistler’s mother indicate the passage of time, so here we can see that works of art are not immune to transience.
In my work, I decided to destroy Malevich’s ideal order.
Looking at Supremother, one can ask: what is the most important thing in art? The visual aspect? The colour, the form, or maybe the feeling? Is art immortal? Is the essence of art, similarly to the essence of man, beyond matter? Is it possible to combine completely different concepts into one?
