Soviet watch brands are not legions. Those who collect them even less. And, among them, those who are also collectors of Abstract Art are… a micro-niche. It is to them that the Raketa Malevich is addressed.
By Olivier Müller
A nice publicity stunt? Definitely. The Raketa manufacture evolves off the beaten track, makes its watches in Saint Petersburg and gently mocks Swiss Made conventions. Nevertheless, the product is interesting, atypical, visually strong. The dial was handmade as a mosaic of 3 different stones: black jade, white jade and violet. The natural pattern of the stone is reminiscent of the cracks that appeared over the years on Malevich’s canvas. Each watch is de facto unique.
The Raketa Big Zero Malevich is the result of a collaboration between Raketa and the Gallery Tretyakov State Museum, the main Russian national art museum. It is based on the famous canvas painted in 1915 by Kasimir Malevitch. A pinnacle of art abstract, soberly entitled “The Black Square”. Few people in know the exact origin but the visual made the tour of the world.
When asked to explain the meaning of his absurd Black Square, Malevich replied that it symbolized a “Big Zero”: the end of the previous period of art’s evolution and the beginning of a new artistic reality devoid of any association with our physical world. There, the laws of gravity no longer apply, forms move freely in an infinite white space.
At first, most people hated this avant-garde painting. But, over time, it has had a huge influence on contemporary art and has become an essential canvas. Most people will not like this watch. But those who are ready to break away from the traditional classic and enter a new aesthetic reality created from Zero will love it Exactly like Malevich’s Black Square
