Cubist Composition 1920

This is a Cubist Composition by David Kakabadzé, though we don't know exactly when he made it. The surface of the painting feels worked-over, shifting. I can imagine Kakabadzé moving the elements around on the canvas, searching for a sense of harmony in this abstracted cityscape. There are these muted earth tones, like browns and tans, set against a somber, almost bruised, blue-black sky. I can imagine how he might have been thinking about modern life and architecture at the time. The ‘Cinema’ sign on the upper right is fascinating. It’s as though Kakabadzé wanted to capture the fleeting, almost dreamlike quality of film within the more solid structure of painting. You can see in this one piece Kakabadzé's dialogue with other cubists and futurists of his time. It makes me wonder what kind of movies he liked to watch!