The background in a photo by Russian artist Alexander Rodchenko of fellow artists Varvara Stepanova, is in shadow. Stepanova is in the foreground looking towards her right. She wears a dress made from fabric printed with a pattern of her own design. 

Varying geometric densities of background darkness reveal the angle Rodchenko had taken the photo, so that everything appears to tilt downwards into the lefthand corner. Rhythmic alternations between dark and light in Stepanova’s dress pattern push, however, against this force. The pattern’s dynamic might counteracts the background’s slipping gravity to steady the image upright. All this creates a lot of tension in the image, against which Stepanova appears calm, if not jubilant. 

We can see all this in a framed reproduction of the photo that is part of the artwork ‘Background’. It represents Rodchenko’s photo arrayed with vertical watercolour stripes aligning with an equalised balance between the photo’s opposing forces. 

A background painting hanging on the wall behind Stepanova forms a diagonal darkness isolated on the righthand side of the sculptuation’s framed reproduction. 

The dark corner hovers between a two-dimensional depth within the photo and a three-dimensional void missing from a pedestal outside the photo. 

The sculptuation’s crux centres on a debate concerning the backgrounds. Whether it is an artist’s biographical background or a room’s background space that fills the pedestal’s missing shadow. Either way, the work is not ready for exhibition until a resolution one way or the other completes the work. The watercolour reads: 

ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF A BACKGROUND
A debate ensues. Not until a pedestal’s missing corner is found, can a framed photocopy of Varvara Stepanova be placed on top. Some argue the background of Stepanova completes the pedestal. Others argue the very room within which one stands is the background that completes the pedestal. Meanwhile, the eleventh hour approaches and the exhibition has soon to open.