Exlibris of Ira Ponomareva 1984

Oleksandr Aksinin made this etching, Exlibris of Ira Ponomareva, with some kind of metal plate and acid, probably in the 70s. It's like he's scratching his way into the unknown, right? The image hovers between clarity and mystery. Look how Aksinin uses the density of the marks to create dark and light, volume and space. The grainy texture makes the whole scene feel kind of dreamy and unreal. I keep coming back to those teardrops, or maybe they're not tears, maybe they're just shapes, hard little ovals that turn into a strange kind of pattern. It’s not a million miles away from some of Goya’s darker etchings, or maybe even some outsider art, where the rules are bent and the feeling is raw. Ultimately, it’s a reminder that art is a conversation, a back-and-forth across time and space.