The Fourth 'Book of Schemes'. Album #1, the Second Folder 1978

Curator: What an interesting piece we have here by Valerii Lamakh, titled "The Fourth 'Book of Schemes'. Album #1, the Second Folder," created in 1978 using mixed media. It really grabs your attention, doesn't it? Editor: It does! It's like a puzzle, or maybe a chart. Kind of unsettling but methodical. The grid structure promises some order but then… it’s just plus signs everywhere! Curator: Absolutely. The use of the grid format immediately draws comparisons to systematic visual studies. Notice the geometric abstractions? Each cell offers a slight variation on a simple cross form. Some are solid, others outlined, colored, or punctuated with small dots. It verges on op-art. Editor: I see it now! The subtle differences, that play with positive and negative space. The color pops in that top corner are what first struck me. What do you make of the artist titling it a ‘Book of Schemes?’ It’s strangely secretive. Curator: That's Lamakh for you! Known for his unique visual language blending geometric abstraction and what some might term Ukrainian Constructivism. His 'schemes' perhaps refer to ways of seeing or organizing visual information. Maybe how even basic shapes hold endless possibilities. There are endless ways to view the basic cross; you can think of a Christian cross, intersecting roads on a map, a basic mathematical symbol, or a bandage. Editor: So he takes this very loaded, familiar shape, and… fragments it? To drain some of the meaning from it while giving it some new ones in a new visual and structural context. Very cool. It's made me see how versatile something as basic as a cross can actually be! Curator: Precisely! It’s in this tension, that interplay of simplicity and variation, where its real beauty and impact emerge. He’s really inviting us to consider just how we make meaning and derive patterns from what surrounds us. Editor: I appreciate you taking the time to offer insights that made it come alive for me! I think now when I revisit I might approach familiar works of art in grid structures a lot differently, ready to engage, maybe a bit more carefully, to try and decipher other schemes artists use in plain sight!