"We can only be aware of space if we break away from the earth, if the fulcrum disappears. ... The earth has been abandoned like a worm-eaten house." Kazimir Malevich, ca. 1916
I propose a return to earth. A return to earth and an embrace of the holes that the natural leaves in the universal. By doing this we can move representation into a dynamic and interrogatory relationship with the non-objective. Through negating Suprematisma return to earth, a focus on natural imagery, and a simultaneous openness to abstractionwe can free ourselves to work under the Suprematist code of cosmic (geometric) unity and detachment, while at the same time allowing the fissures of natural imagery to call that code into question. The material of the paint on the surface will be able to assert itself, as the message-bearer and also the message. Instead of abandoning our worm-eaten house, we may let the worm-holes lead us to a new understanding of abstraction, imagery, and space.
Hilary Irons is a contemporary artist who lives and works in Portland, Maine.