Instant creation and Malevich’s Black
Square.
Some time ago I came across Malevich’s painting “The Black Square” and on
reading about its conception and purpose a fascinating collaboration was
revealed which led to the establishment of Suprematism. If this movement is
unfamiliar to you the names to research along with Malevich are Mikhail
Matyushin (musician) and Aleksei Kruchenykh (poet). Their manifesto calls for
rational thought to be overthrown.
Here is a link to an extract
from “Victory to the Sun” to whet the appetite:
I hope it amuses as much as it
informs.
The reason behind opening this
blog with an artistic reference is that it took me to considering how long it
took Malevich to conceive the idea of “The Black Square” – could it have been in a single moment, as one might
say in a flash of inspiration? As time went on the question expanded into
considering different art forms and the preparation that takes place to produce
an artistic statement; is there an equal process to the Eureka moment for
musicians, poets and other creative thinkers.
Musing
on that question generates the thought that there are art forms that evolve
over a period of time and others that can be formed in a short or very short
time frame. The former includes music, dance, opera, staged events, film and
literature. The instant varieties include visual arts and photography.
Once
we start thinking about that phrase ‘in an instant’ the discussion can become
tricky. While conceiving a whole drama or symphony in an instant is not
possible one might argue that the musical intention or a storyline (consider
Berlioz and his “Symphony Fantastique”) might be instantaneously experienced by
the artist. A little less dramatic than God’s spark we might have concepts like
“my work will express emotion x”, or “I will work with nothing other than the
interval of a fourth” or “I shall explore two contrasting but related
hexachords”. I heard recently that Takemitsu always wanted a title before
settling down to composing, and I am of the opinion that phrases and titles can
occur to a person in an instant and influence the design of the completed
composition. However, in the cold light of reality many of us have seen the
excitement generated by the notion that an idea holds great potential only to
be cruelly disappointed when attempting to make something of it.
Working
from a pre-existing image or sound and modelling a work from that point may be
considered as instantaneous even if the eventual outcome takes time and
considerable refinement. Take
Wordsworth’s “Daffodils” as an example. Most subjects require considerable work
after the “spark”, the creation of a glue to hold the elements together if the
material is to keep an audience’s attention for a performance or repeated
performances over a period of time. It may be the case that what appears like
one idea (daffodils) is in fact two related ideas (the euphoric experience
through nature and the eventual return to reality).
Can
one note or one brushstroke be an artistic statement? We could play the sorties
game here, how many grains of sand make a beach? Not one obviously, nor two.
Are a million grains a beach or a sign of erosion? Out of context that pile
might take on a different identity, for example material to absorb an oil spill
or the raw ingredients of a window. Quantity alone is not enough to create meaning
let alone art; is a sustained open fifth more artistic if it lasts a minute, an
hour or a decade?
Traditionally
musicians have expected their notes to relate to each other, create patterns,
and that is a minimum requirement. Outside the traditional approach musicians
have explored sound for its own sake, particularly in the post 1950’s period.
Historically some musicians push this exploration of timbre further back in
time and view Debussy as an early exponent of this movement. In the post 50’s
the development of sound generating equipment accelerated and devices like synthesizers
and samplers opened up a new world of possibilities. Gradually the interaction
of live and electronically modified music permitted spontaneous extensions to
alter our expectations of e.g. how a string quartet sounds. In the world of
sound for its own sake technical skills are less relevant, the ability to
perform at a high level of expertise is equal to or perhaps even less important
than being able to express and communicate ideas. There is a parallel here with
conceptual art, here is a brief Wiki extract that explores the balance of skill
and expression.
An important difference between conceptual art
and more "traditional" forms of art-making goes to the question of
artistic skill. Although skill in the handling of traditional media often plays
little role in conceptual art, it is difficult to argue that no skill is
required to make conceptual works, or that skill is always absent from
them.
The
argument that photography is not an art form lies close to this observation,
and the question is asked does one press of a trigger create a work of art or a
document? The mechanical action is not the artistic process, but without it
there is no product. The photographer has set up his instant, whether in a war
zone or in a field with a crop that attracts a particular butterfly, but
experience and sensitivity to the subject determines when the button on the
camera is pressed. A short and informative exploration of the question is explored
in the following Guardian article:
Before
we leave conceptual art, let us consider the notion of a concept in itself
being art. Let us imagine a similar event to Wordsworth’s “Daffodils”, a
composer is exploring a cave, he hears water dropping into a pool and the sound
reverberates. He immediately decides that the experience is worth sharing and
decides to replicate the environment in the concert hall. The composer may at a
later stage develop the concept, sensors are added to trigger the recorded sound
of water drops and the audience interacts. We have all the parameters of
musical composition covered, in the first instance chance plays a significant
role, with the sensors human control shapes the outcome. Can one argue against
this being either instant or art?
Let’s
return to the switch on the camera problem and apply it to a composer, and let
the composer be Beethoven. We are sent back in time to be at the moment just before
the “Ode to Joy” melody has been written down. Beethoven has acquired by this
time formidable technical skill, melodies are formed to carry large scale
structures. So we ask ourselves where and when the origin of this melody occurs,
does it evolve, is it a spontaneous or possibly an accidental outcome of
playing at the piano? If it interests the reader there is a paper available as
a PDF by Robert Pascall which discusses:
(an) altogether more radical claim that in this
finale Beethoven harnesses the structure and processes characteristic of
improvisation, and that in so doing he composed what becomes, by that token, an
allegory of improvisation; furthermore, it is an allegory enhanced by a
narrative aspect that Beethoven gives to his setting of Schiller’s text,
initiated by his instrumental and vocal introductions to it and carried through
in prominent elements of the setting itself.
Before
we conclude let us consider a modern technological development of the allegory
of improvisation. Companies like Native Instruments have developed modules
which generate rhythmic pulses that can trigger oscillators and filters. The
results can be simple or complex, and sustained for as long as the technician/composer
desires. If desired all parameters can be altered as the chain of events occur.
Compositional expertise can be minimal but experience guides selection and
control.
As
the complexity increases the ability to predict the outcome decreases, a
situation familiar to total serialists in an earlier period. Technology here
offers a half-way house between instant and planned events, and we return to
the old argument that chance music may sound good by chance.
To
close let us return to Malevich’s painting “The Black
Square”
in the light of our question; if the idea was simple enough to have occurred
like a divine spark, why it is that the idea was revisited four times? Is one
Black Square not enough? The answer lies in the difference between a closed
idea and one that has the potential for expansion and refinement.
