Analyse the composition of Rodchenko's Spatial Construction No. 12 and consider the use of materials.

This ovular and geometrical construction from Rodchenko focusses solely on the exploitation of materials in space. The sculpture comprises of eleven ovular disks cut from plywood and then painted in dark maroon and light red. The central five smaller discs of the sculpture haven’t been painted to clearly show the material used. Plywood and aluminium wire are both industrial materials that are light, transportable, cheap and easily accessible. The use of plywood enabled the artist to create very light, precisely defined ovals that could easily be hung in space. The use of these somewhat unusual materials for a sculpture creates the sense that Rodchenko was deeply rooted and affected by his urban, industrial surroundings in Russia. The composition is unified with all of the circles fitting perfectly into one another and the simplicity of the forms creates a harmony in the work. There is a sense of motion here with the forms constantly being able to move and twist in their own space. The construction also bears similarities to a planet’s orbit or the cosmos.

The sculpture was hung in space by thin aluminium wire that was barely perceptible to create the illusion of a hanging object that was only surrounded by space thus allowing the ovular forms to spin of their own accord. The construction and presentation of the sculpture creates a sense of the infinite, the ovals suspended in air look weightless and unconstrained. The twisting circles that increase in size from the centre is an iteration of the same single oval shape again and again. Perhaps what makes this sculpture so interesting is that the ovals can be flattened from their twisted three-dimensional form to create a two-dimensional flat piece of plywood. The artist was certainly trying to push these materials to their furthest limits as well as playing with the idea of space.