Devils Sawing a Sinner 1914

Kazimir Malevich made this drawing, Devils Sawing a Sinner, with what looks like black ink on paper. Just imagine the scratching, the scraping, and the speed of the line as it conjures a scene of torture! You know, sometimes I think about how an artist uses line, how much pressure they apply, and the feeling that results. These devils, rendered as dark silhouettes, are crudely sawing someone in half – it's brutal! But also, there is a quality that almost feels cartoonish or surreal, like a dark joke. The graininess and the flatness somehow makes me think of printmaking, like Käthe Kollwitz. The way she uses stark black and white to depict scenes of suffering. With Malevich, it is like he is not only showing us something terrible, but also making us think about the act of representation itself. In the end, painting is about the ongoing conversation artists have with one another through marks, gestures, and ideas, transforming the world, one brushstroke at a time.