A.B. 2021

Editor: So, here we have Pavlo Makov’s "A.B." from 2021, a mixed-media drawing combining watercolor and ink on paper. It feels almost like a blueprint, or some sort of coded message, with all those little buildings... What do you make of it? Curator: It tickles my brain in such a curious way, doesn't it? Like a half-remembered dreamscape plotted onto a technical diagram. All these buildings neatly arranged, but then jolted by a flash of red or blue... I see the influence of architectural drawing melded with a surreal cityscape. It’s ordered, but there's a whisper of something else. Do you get the sense of underlying melancholy? Editor: Definitely a melancholy. It’s almost oppressive in its precision. The limited palette, the repetition... it feels intentional. Is there a connection with his earlier fountain works in your opinion? Curator: Good eye! Yes, I believe it explores a similar theme of order versus entropy. In the fountains, you have individual spouts contributing to a unified whole. Here, these individual "buildings", or modules as it were, might build up to form an urban ecosystem…but something is not quite right, and I get that things may break up at any moment. What if each block represents a person in a dystopian state where the living space has been dramatically diminished? Editor: I hadn’t thought of it that way, a diminished urban existence. I was more drawn to the idea of architectural planning. I guess that’s the beauty of art, right? Different perspectives create different realities. Curator: Precisely! It is a shared language where our thoughts shape new perspectives on a theme!