Aries 1979

Curator: The density of line in Oleksandr Aksinin’s 1979 ink drawing, "Aries", is quite striking. The monochromatic choice enhances the focus on intricate patterns and geometries. What's your initial take? Editor: Overwhelming. My first impression is the visual busyness of it. It’s an ordered chaos, yet somehow calming because of the symmetry and repetition. There is a distinct echo of ritual, a systematic build-up of layers that calls attention to the spiritual within organized societal hierarchies. Curator: Well, considering Aksinin's context as a Ukrainian artist working under Soviet rule, that potential reading is potent. Let's delve into his material process. Notice the linework – it isn’t just decorative. It’s constructive. The texture of each geometric form seems to arise from painstakingly layering tiny strokes. It mirrors the way rigid social and political systems were often meticulously fabricated. Editor: Yes, and that constructive, layered approach evokes ideas about building identities within confining circumstances, the making and unmaking of the Self amidst power dynamics of State oppression, of gendered and racial discrimination, and cultural identity. How do you interpret the drawing's abstraction? Is it an intentional evasion or resistance? Curator: I lean toward seeing the abstraction as a subversive act. By divorcing the image from direct representation, Aksinin bypasses censorship. He isn’t making explicitly anti-Soviet art, but he's crafting a visual space ripe for individual interpretation. The density of work put into the object pushes the boundary of production – challenging definitions of labour, and how his creative role may have contributed, resisted or acquiesced to systems of value that defined Soviet culture. Editor: I agree. This is not just line for line’s sake. It is a commentary on the structures that build a culture, both its beauty and oppression. As much as it evokes societal construction, I think this invokes an attempt to question how those constructions relate to personhood and personal agency within a defined space. The formal properties of the line operate in tandem with considerations of state. Curator: Indeed. The beauty is inextricably linked to its constraints. Editor: A powerful reminder of the complex relationship between artistic creation and the societal circumstances surrounding that labour. Curator: A testament to how the subtlest manipulations of materials can be a tool for potent expressions of freedom.