5.IV. 1974

This is a print called 5.IV. made by Oleksandr Aksinin, though the date of its making is not known, it’s signed ’74 so we can assume then. It looks like it has been etched with acid into a metal plate. I wonder how Aksinin felt when he made this piece. He was living in Soviet Ukraine at the time and was part of an underground movement of artists who were pushing back against socialist realism. This print reminds me of Paul Klee. I can imagine him hunched over a desk, carefully drawing this scene in reverse onto a metal plate, and then biting it with acid. He must have wanted to create an alternative universe that wasn’t controlled by dogma. Look at this little donkey on top of a rainbow carrying an egg-shaped rider. I wonder what it is like to live in that little world, somewhere between dream and reality, fantasy and rebellion. Artists are always having a conversation across time, inspiring one another's creativity.