Exploding Tongues: Language, Art, and the Russian Avant-garde

Lines, Rotation, Text

There is a story that Wassily Kandinsky discovered one of his paintings laying on its side, and suddenly it became unrecognizable. This inspired him to delve into the realm of abstract work. Many abstract works, in this same notion, do not have a set orientation in which to view them. Rotating them allows us to view a piece of art in a new light, perhaps drastically changing the meaning we originally gave it. The geometric nature of suprematist paintings allows for this sort of rotation without too much strain on the imagination. The process of rotating a painting in order to see it differently implies that we read paintings in a certain way, specifically from left to right, similarly to how languages stemming from Latin read text.

The Gutenberg style of printing introduced certain features of text that remain true today; for example linear text that does not allow for multidirectionality, no variation from copy to copy, and a lack of “non-type set features, such as illustration” (Janecek 42). Any variation from these norms would appear as defects in the book. Klutsis’ piece to the right brings together both suprematist style geometric shapes and text. Both the rotation of the text and the addition of art counter the Gutenbergian style of printing. Although Klutsis was not in the industry of bookmaking, the subversion of our internalized processes of reading is nonetheless important. Similarly, the piece to the left demonstrates how lines can be used to disrupt the left to right reading process.

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