Attempt for Versailles III 2006

Pavlo Makov made this print, "Attempt for Versailles III," with what looks like etching and aquatint. The limited palette feels right because the piece is as much about process as it is about a garden. There is a very soft, almost nostalgic quality to the marks, with a rigid grid of trees across the picture plane. The texture feels almost like faded wallpaper. The repeated motifs create a sense of depth, as if we are peering through layers of history, each mark a memory etched onto the surface. Look at the dark pool of ink at the very top, it hints at ruin, or maybe a storm cloud, but whatever it is, it gives the piece a sense of foreboding. Makov's work reminds me a little of Piranesi's etchings of Rome – both artists capture a sense of grandeur and decay, exploring themes of memory, history, and the passage of time. Like my own paintings, "Attempt for Versailles III" embraces ambiguity, inviting us to bring our own interpretations to the garden.