The Russian Avant Garde(iel)

On March 12, 2017, I decided to visit the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) to see which exhibition would interest me. Starting off, the coat check is extremely long, everyone gets confused on what lines to go to to either retrieve or leave items. I wasn't to thrilled at first checking out the first two floors of the museum, it was pretty average work in my eyes, with a couple exceptions to some old school propaganda/ entertainment posters. When I reached the Russian Avant Garde exhibition hall, I was pleasantly impressed finally. The oil paintings I saw captivated my eyes with the uniqueness of each painters paintings,

(Bespredmetnian zhivopis' n. 80 [Chernoe na chernom]) 1918, By Aleksandr Rodchenko 

Spanish Dancer, 1914, By Natalia Goncharova 

The Russian Avant Garde was a revolutionary time period for avant garde modern art to enter the Russian empire from the early 1890's-1930's. The Russian avant garde doesn't consist of a unique art style, it was a revolutionary art movement to present the struggles of daily life living in the Russian and Soviet empires. It was a complicated art movement that removed religion and moral beliefs, while on the other hand, developing revolutionary power to create new ideas for life. The artists paintings that stood out the most to me during my visit in the Russian Avant Garde exhibition was Aleksandr Rodchenko and Natalia Goncharova.

Aleksandr Rodchenko was a artist that wanted to expel the belief that there is much meaning behind a painting. He conveyed his stance by painting three different paintings with three different primary colors, red, yellow, and blue to show that paintings are materialistic, with no other representation. Rodchenko states "I Rodchenko had declared the death of painting in 1921, with three monochrome paintings- Pure Red Color, Pure Yellow Color, and Pure Blue Color- exhibited in the exhibition 5x5=25 alongside works by fellow Russian artists Varvara Stepanova, Alexandra Exter, Lyubov Popova, and Aleksandr Vesnin" (MoMA website, 2017). I stumbled upon one of his works "(Bespredmetnian zhivopis' n. 80 [Chernoe na chernom])" that really caught my attention. Its a black and dark grayish painting with a circle that sort of resembles the yin and yang symbol in chinese religion. Rodchenko says that he painted this painting in response to Kazimir Malevich, who created the "White on White" painting in 1918. Rodchenko wanted to show the materialism in paintings to Malevich by painting a black on black painting, showing the physical properties of it.

Natalia Goncharova was second in charge of the leading of the Russian Futurist painting, She was a major artist in the Avant Garde movement and her painting "Spanish Dancer" caught my attention. There isn't much information on this particular painting of hers, just the date it was made, however, it does assist in discussing a bit of her history, She helped lead the Cubo-Futurism movement , which consisted of many poor painters, while she came from nobility. She received much controversy during her time but still pressed on, adapting to new painting styles and cultures.

I took this weekly selfie to kind of portray the message Aleksandr Rodchenko was trying to convey in his time. To me, this is just a selfie of me, in a bathroom, there is no special message behind it or anything, just me taking a selfie in a retail store bathroom. As I do love to see hidden messages or even life lessons from seeing art, sometimes I like to just appreciate what I see, not to sound narcissistic, or sometimes I see no meaning in what I see, its there and thats cool with me.