Black Square

by Mark A. Murphy

The square is not a subconscious form. The square
is a living, regal infant.
- Kasimir Malevich

i

Velásquez knows all there is to know about art.
All there is to know about spitting.

Take his life-size portrait of the Spanish royals,
as he interpolates himself
at the centre of the Spanish Golden Age.

Velásquez knows the risks. Reducing Philip IV
and Queen Mariana to bit parts.

Shadows reflected in a mirror on the back wall.
A million miles from the real action.

What on earth was Velásquez thinking. To spit
in the eye of the most powerful couple on earth.

ii

Indeed, dare we speak of ‘Black Square’
(on a white background)
in the same breath as ‘Las Meninas.’

Would Velásquez be glad to learn that his rebellion
found an echo again, in the voice of Malevich.

Who transformed the zero sum of form and self
in the act of spitting, as he emerged from nothing

to creation.