Pozzo 2020

Curator: Immediately, I’m struck by the unsettling yet precise geometry. It reminds me of architectural plans infused with a sense of decay. Editor: Pavlo Makov created this mixed-media piece, titled "Pozzo," in 2020. He blends drawing and watercolor to create this fascinating effect. Curator: The name "Pozzo," meaning well, certainly deepens the sense of symbolism. It appears to map a system – perhaps an abstracted well and water distribution network. There's a tension between the clean, almost sterile, blueprint quality, and the watercolor washes, which evoke a feeling of organic, inevitable degradation over time. Editor: I notice how the composition uses contrasting hard lines with softer washes of color. That cool, almost clinical blue creates these channels, leading the eye down a defined path, while the clustered geometric shapes arranged throughout break this structure. This invites interpretation – it reads both rational and irrational. Curator: The shapes distributed throughout have a repetitive pattern; it recalls forgotten glyphs or markers from lost cities and histories. Their accumulation speaks volumes about culture, and these motifs persist because of this very endurance and transformation across diverse societies. It’s suggestive of layered realities buried beneath the surface, much like water is underground and out of sight, only visible when extracted. Editor: I agree, these geometric formations aren’t just abstract shapes; they appear to create a sort of visual language that is both ambiguous and familiar. However, by using contrasting weights of line, I notice how they almost seem suspended across a visual hierarchy, challenging what is figure and what is merely support. It’s both a solid well but simultaneously suggests this ephemeral visual structure as well. Curator: Ultimately, this contrast is what keeps the eye so deeply interested. By drawing parallels between water – a universal symbol for unconscious and regenerative life and this abstracted sense of cartography - Makov asks how can these familiar narratives inform not only past cultures, but shape our sense of belonging. Editor: Exactly, the layering of mediums, with their varying opacities and textures, almost suggests a process of accretion. The piece operates within dualities; an appeal for function married to expressive intuition. It’s what moves the drawing from something purely utilitarian to this intriguing meditation.