Bosch Pupil 1978

Oleksandr Aksinin made this mysterious etching, Bosch Pupil, sometime before 1985. The process, you can tell, was all about making marks, building up layers, and letting the image emerge. The surface is just teeming with detail – scales on fish, textures like water, and peculiar, almost architectural elements. The lines create a kind of visual hum. Look at the way Aksinin varies the pressure of the etching tool, creating darker and lighter areas. It's like a whole world is being built up, bit by bit, through this patient, repetitive process. See how each little mark adds to the overall feeling of the piece? Aksinin's work reminds me of Hieronymus Bosch, all those intricate, fantastical details packed into a single frame. Both artists embrace ambiguity, inviting us to wander through their strange landscapes and draw our own conclusions.