July 1973

7/73 is a piece by one of the classics of Polish geometric abstraction Janusz Orbitowski.He glued slats, squares or rhomboids cut out of plywood onto the painting to create rhythmical structures. Situated in different ways in relation to each other and to the ground, the protruding elements casting shadows at their edges, emphasize the spatiality and dynamics of the work. Orbitowski's work focused on the exploration of pure geometric figures (squares, triangles and circles) and their mutual relationships within the picture. Through synthesis and elimination he strived to achieve the utmost simplicity of form, harmony and asceticism. Since the mid-1970s, the artist has almost completely abandoned colours, and since 2000, he has resorted to using only white. He is considered a direct follower of Kazimierz Malewicz, founder of the suprematism movement – the concept of the superiority of human being sover matter. Suprematism, the result of the author's metaphysical philosophy, was more of an attitude, rather than a direction in art. With geometric forms, such as the straight line – a symbol of human superiority over the chaos of nature, as well as the square, which does not exist in nature, Malewicz wanted to create new material realities. He wished to express the ‘feelings of longing towards the inexplicable enigma of the universe.’ Orbitowski's works from the final period of his artistic career seem to refer to Kompozycja suprematyczna: białe na białym (ca. 1918) by Malewicz, in which, as the British art historian Aaron Scharf puts it, ‘the square (the will of man or perhaps man himself) gets rid of its materiality and sinks into infinity’, leaving behind nothing but a fragile trace.

Marlena Chybowska-Butler