The Fourth 'Book of Schemes'. Album #2, the First Folder 1978

Valerii Lamakh made ‘The Fourth “Book of Schemes”’ with colored pencils, and you can see it's all about process. He’s working through something, and the result isn't as important as the doing. Lamakh’s colors are fascinating—pink, yellow, and blue. They’re laid down in thin lines, carefully considered, and each contained within a square. Look at the top left square: he starts with a square, divides it, and then folds it like origami, creating more triangles and more divisions. It almost feels like a mathematical equation worked out in color. The pink pops, doesn't it? It brings a warmth to the cool precision of the blue and yellow. This work reminds me of Hilma af Klint's diagrammatic paintings, although Klint is more overtly spiritual in her explorations. Both artists delve into systems, searching for something beyond the visible. In the end, what Lamakh shows us is that art isn't always about answers, it’s about the questions we ask along the way.