31. Mandala 1980

This "Mandala" was made by Oleksandr Aksinin using what looks like pen and ink. The whole thing is green, which is pretty cool, and the marks are really dense; it’s like he was building a whole world with tiny little lines. Up close, you can see Aksinin’s cross-hatching, that kind of shading where you layer lines over each other. It gives everything this cool texture, like a velvety moss. The green ink is thin enough that you can see the paper underneath, which makes the whole thing feel kind of fragile and intimate. There are so many tiny shapes and numbers in here, it's almost like looking into a secret code, or a map of some kind. Look at the way he’s drawn the number 3, it’s almost like a little ghost floating in the picture. Looking at this, I’m reminded of Paul Klee, who was also into these kinds of intricate, almost mystical drawings. But Aksinin has this really unique voice, all his own. It’s amazing how much he can say with just a pen and some ink.