Arabic garden 2021

Pavlo Makov made this ‘Arabic garden’, a watercolour and etching, sometime around now. I see this work as a meditation on control and freedom. The piece is dominated by a grid-like structure, but within it, tiny marks of paint evoke a sense of organic growth, like the way a garden might be planned out but nature does its thing. The blues and browns feel earthy, watery, really evocative. Notice that central pool—it's like a blurred mirage, built from countless little strokes. The way Makov uses the watercolour creates these translucent layers, building up the density and depth. It's a process of adding and subtracting, revealing and concealing. You know, it reminds me a bit of Agnes Martin, that focus on quiet repetition and the beauty of the imperfect mark. There is something about the map-like view point that makes me think of the ongoing artistic conversation about space.