Avenir 2021

Pavlo Makov made Avenir, a painting of many similar forms, measuring 152 by 117.5 centimetres, with a restricted palette of grays, blues, and blacks. The repetition here reminds me of Sol Lewitt, but with a twist! Looking closely, I see a grid filled with these strange, boxy shapes, each slightly different from the last. The artist’s hand is evident in the texture. It's not quite like the hard edge geometries you might expect - the graphite or ink seems almost scrubbed onto the surface, blurring the neat edges, like he had to get these shapes down fast. The blue and grey washes bleed a little into the white of the paper, softening the whole image. There’s a tension here, this grid suggests order but the actual marks feel restless and full of energy. It makes me think about how we try to control things, but life always has its own way of messing things up, beautifully. Like Cy Twombly, Makov reminds us that even in repetition, the human touch brings something unique.