Construction 1923

Aleksandra Ekster made this geometrical painting, Construction, using oil on canvas. Look at the way she’s confidently laid down these blocks of colour; it feels like building with paint, a total construction, but also a deconstruction. The surface has this beautiful, smooth quality which comes from thin layers of paint, expertly applied. I love the way the black background really throws these other colours into stark relief. It’s such a gutsy statement, and it allows colours like the bold red and the luminous yellow to really pop. Notice the dashes of colour around the edges of some of the shapes? They give a subtle sense of depth and dimension, as though the shapes are folding out towards us from the surface of the canvas. Kasimir Malevich, another Russian Suprematist, springs to mind when looking at this piece. Ekster is having a really interesting visual conversation with her contemporaries.