22/02/10 Russia Constructivism

Ivan Leonidov’s plans communicate strong geometric forms and simplicity in design. They are beautiful and are really inspiring for my work. The graphic nature to his orthogonal drawings has a delicacy to them and an order. He does not include all the detail of the building in his plans which I think adds a quality to his work making the viewer search for clues as to how the building will be, cross referencing between plan, section and elevation.

1| Ivan Leonidov, Lenin Building, 1927, Axonometric

Malevich’s work also interests me, as he is also very graphical with his pieces. The famous Black Square is simple but gives so many messages. The monochrome aspect and the simplicity reads well. His drawings are too of a geometric form, such as examples from Kazimir Malevich’s Suprematism: 34 drawings. The detail is sparse, yet the drawings allow the imagination to take over and complete the piece.

2| Pages from Kazimir Malevich's Suprematism: 34 drawings, 1920

My project uses light and projection. I would really like to incorporate a similar method of drawing to Leonidov and Malevich’s style with my orthogonal drawings. I think this could be a really effective way of expressing my design. The projected light beam is very important in my work defining a spatial form within the site. A monochrome and graphical representation could work well. The building on my site is a secondary to the lighting pieces and so I can develop my drawings to express the nature of the light projection, its form and spatial qualities leaving the boundary of the building walls to a minimum or even not including them at all (similar to Malevich and Leonidov’s drawings reducing the detail). The geometric forms will be strong in my proposal although not defined by boundary walls, but by light projection, which can be broken at any time by the visitors to the Museum.

I am very engaged in their drawing methods and hope to use the influences to develop my drawing skills and way of presenting my work.

Image References

1| http://www.kmtspace.com/leonidov.htm

2| Tupitsky, M. Malevich and Film, 2002, Yale University Press, New Haven and London p134