Gate to the Garden. Alice in Wonderland 1976

Oleksandr Aksinin made this etching on paper, called "Gate to the Garden. Alice in Wonderland," but the date is unknown. Look how Aksinin has constructed a way of seeing, thinking, and experiencing the world. The architecture suggests a methodized world. Aksinin’s etching has a very particular feel. The pale green ink that the artist chose for the matrix creates a sense of distance, as if we are seeing this strange garden through a thick pane of glass. The texture is created by very fine lines that make up the image. They are clearly the work of an engraver, each made with an extraordinary level of precision. The more you look, the more variety you see in the linework, and Aksinin seems to have delighted in these subtle shifts. The work of M.C. Escher comes to mind, in the precision and the playfulness. But Aksinin seems less interested in mathematical illusions than in creating a hermetic space that can only be entered in the imagination.