Black Frame: Containment, Absence, and Fragile Boundaries

Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Size: 3ft x 3ft
Creation Date: 2020
Collection: Geometric Splendor

Black Frame (2020) is part of my Geometric Splendor Collection, created in the heart of the 2020 lockdown, where boundaries — both physical and emotional — became more pronounced. This 36 x 36 inch acrylic on canvas features a stark, unyielding black frame that dominates the composition, not as a passive border, but as an active, almost oppressive protagonist.

The frame encases an ambiguous interior, leaving the viewer to grapple with what is being protected or perhaps imprisoned. There’s an intentional austerity in this work — the black lines hold weight, commanding the space while simultaneously isolating the fragile center. This is not a frame of comfort, but of quiet suffocation.

In spirit, Black Frame resonates with the work of Kazimir Malevich, particularly his exploration of the void in his Black Square. Like Malevich, I am fascinated by the radical act of placing black at the center, yet while his square becomes a portal into nothingness, my Black Frame leans toward psychological space — a fragile boundary holding the tensions of the unseen.

Black Frame became a meditation on the architectures of containment we create — whether in relationships, identities, or physical spaces. It is both fortress and cage, offering the viewer a stark, minimalist confrontation with boundaries that may or may not protect.