tamara dees

///2013

4 squares exactly the same sizes as the Black Squares by Malevich, cut from a black ship.

Exhibition TEER at Spaceburo Antwerp (B) 07 September-05 October 2014

2013 in Spaceburo photo ©Kurt De Wit

invitation

Photo ©Kurt De Wit

In 2013, hundred years after Kazimir Malevich started to think about painting a black square on canvas, I wondered what the size of this painting was. I saw one painting years ago but I never realized that Malevich painted the famous Black Square four times. And each time he painted it the size was very different from the others. There is over fourteen years between the first and the last square painting but he dated them all the same, 1913. After some research I found the sizes and funny enough the biggest painting wasn't even exactly a square. I decided to find a black ship and cut the squares from the skin of the ship. The material makes the work very heavy, 250 kgs. It is made from 10 mm steel. Depending on the exhibitionspace there can be varieties in placing them. In Spaceburo I placed the three biggest squares on a wooden stand and from the smallest square I made a lightweight replica to hang high on the wall. In the Holy Corner, in Russia where Malevich came from, the eastern corner of the house where a painted icon was hung. In the exhibition 0.10 in St Petersburg (Russia) Malevich hang his Black Square in this Holy Corner.