Exlibris of Roman Fylypchuk 1978

Oleksandr Aksinin made this intricate Exlibris of Roman Fylypchuk sometime around 1978. It's got this incredible, obsessive quality, every millimeter alive with detail. I imagine Aksinin hunched over his work, totally absorbed in the process. The repetition of the scales must have been a kind of meditation, you know? A dialogue between him and the plate. Each mark is so deliberate, it's like he's trying to capture something just beyond the surface of things. Look at the way he renders the scales on the fish; each one is different, responding to the form, creating a feeling of depth and texture. It’s so precise, yet it has a dreamlike quality. It reminds me a little of Klee, or maybe even Piranesi. Artists are always feeding off of each other; stealing ideas, transforming them, keeping the conversation going. Ultimately, it is about making something new. Something weird and wonderful.