Painterly Realism of a Boy with a Knapsack – Color Masses in the Fourth Dimension

Kazimir Malevich

A world in turmoil and Malevich answers with two squares. Decades before Mondrian reduced modern art to geometry, the Russian Suprematists were liberating art from reality. The Suprematists above all were interested in feeling. The war was raging, Russia was in a period of immense change, and daily reality seemed an unappealing and tenuous construct. So they looked to emotion, unchained from anything else. Despite the tongue-in-cheek title, Malevich’s Black and Red Square is art in its barest form. There are no distractions, no memories, no allusions, there is only form and shape, and emotion. Not prescribed emotion, but engendered feeling. Malevich gives you almost nothing, and when you have nothing, the only option is to feel something.

Thursday 30th July

Today, one day after the full Moon, the Moon remains in the earth constellation of Capricorn. As the Moon begins to wane, our attention turns from culmination towards care, consolidation, and strengthening what lies beneath the surface. Capricorn is especially favourable for tending the soil and caring for root plants such as carrots, beetroot, potatoes, onions, and parsnips. The four elements can help us understand what the soil needs. Earth provides structure and minerals, water brings moisture, air allows roots and soil organisms to breathe, and fire brings warmth and supports transformation and decomposition. Observe whether the soil is compacted, dry, waterlogged, cold, or lacking organic matter. Today is a good time to loosen the ground, add compost, water deeply where needed, and strengthen the conditions that support healthy roots.