I’m not a very artsy person, but I don’t see any real symbolism behind the black square. It’s just a black square. Even if there is meaning, why is it known as an Avant Garde? Surely something impactful deserves the title, and this is literally a black square; I know everything can be art but does a black square deserve to be an Avant Garde?
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Reductio ad absurdum. Absurdity and audacity of it is the point.
Abstract artists of the time were angry with amateurs and scammers trying to pass off randomly painted shapes as art; this also extended to “friendly fire” accusations against prospective real artists who just weren’t famous. So Malevich, someone already critically acclaimed, drew the Black Square to protest and poke fun at the situation, and his joke worked too well and went down in history as one of the most famous works of art.
For a modern equivalent you could look at the situation with AI art. Some artists are called out for using AI just because their art feels too good to be true, and others win AI “art” contests as a form of protest.
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