Gautama's Hand 1980

Curator: I’m struck by the immediate feeling of quiet dread this piece evokes. It's heavy, almost oppressive. Editor: That’s interesting. What we're looking at is Oleksandr Aksinin's "Gautama's Hand," a 1980 ink drawing on paper. Knowing something about Aksinin's experiences and artistic community helps to contextualize your feeling, I think. Curator: Oh? How so? I am especially intrigued by the intense intricacy of the pattern work in blue ink... almost obsessive in its repetition. Is there any evidence the labor was shared? Editor: Aksinin worked in Soviet Ukraine where artistic expression was carefully controlled and censored. His participation in underground art movements and knowledge of historical artistic oppression doubtlessly influenced his artistic approach. The hand is such a potent, recurrent image in both sacred and profane art traditions—to see it depicted this way… Curator: Indeed, the lines making up the fingers are simple, elegant even, until one considers the heads that crown them. And that sole eye that is staring—accusingly maybe. It all works together with this elaborate—but unsettling—background of tightly-packed motifs to contribute to this effect of stifled claustrophobia and an uneasy balance of form and message. Editor: Consider also the implied labor. It takes time to create this intricate pattern. Outsider art is associated with intense singular focus, and that labour is critical. It becomes a record of the time and resources available to the artist and also acts as a subtle resistance to the pervasive Soviet demand for labor directed at more "useful" things. Curator: Absolutely. Perhaps it is my training, but it's the formalism in the symbolism that grabs me and holds me here. This symbolic configuration...the contained hand with faces rather than fingernails all but shrieks. Editor: It all comes together to create an unforgettable, emotionally resonant work, deeply entwined with Aksinin's own social, political and personal context. I come away marveling at his method and drive. Curator: And I’m left contemplating how formal artistic choices amplify existential anxieties.