The Soft Logic of Russian Constructivism

Abstract

The starting point for this project is the geometric, abstract language of several of the 20th century avant-garde movements. Artists involved in these movements, such as Liubov Popova, Varvara Stepanova and Eileen Gray, developed a geometric language that reinforced many of the dichotomies (objective/subjective, construction/composition, functional/decorative, dynamic/static) that defined their work in relation to accepted or historical notions of art/architecture. As their work developed, however, the language began to create a multiplicity of significations (i.e. signifying masculinity, gender neutrality and femininity simultaneously), often undermining the very dichotomies it sought to establish. The title of the project, a palindrome, suggests an implausible situation and a reading with no single start or finish. As such, it reflects a desire to inject uncertainty into the dichotomies commonly associated with formal aspects of art -- hard/soft, front/back, two-dimensional/three-dimensional -- by creating visual and physical ambiguity. Transparency and opacity, thickness and thinness, and the material qualities of fabric all operate within the work to weaken perceptual clarity in places and to strengthen it in others. An orthogonal pattern, subjected to gravity and the fluid physicality of fabric, may create a new pattern composed of soft curves. Such a pattern will, in turn, suggest a different structure – both in the sense of an abstract ordering system and in the sense of a physical object. Being the thing that our skin is almost always in direct contact with, fabric carries connotations of intimacy with the body. Silk, which begins in a semi-liquid state, has particularly strong connotations with the sensuous due to its translucency and depth. Silk’s lightness and subtle texture invite touch, creating a tension between the more obvious visual qualities of the work and its tactile qualities. The scale of the fabric, its drape, and the finishing of its edges all subtly reference clothing, just as the relationship of fabric to frame references the relationship of clothing to the body.