Exlibris V. Valdemarov 1981

This mysterious intaglio print was made by Oleksandr Aksinin. It's like a dream, or a memory of a dream. The image swims up out of the paper through a fog of tiny marks, and the three white arrows feel like a flash of inspiration or a sudden event. I imagine Aksinin bent over the plate, meticulously etching each tiny dot and line. What was he thinking about as he worked? Those strange creatures, part human, part machine, part something else entirely, feel like they are guarding a secret. They remind me of the work of other artists who create their own private worlds. Like Hilma af Klint. The texture is so important here. It's almost like he's creating a whole universe with the quality of the ink and paper. This piece invites me to slow down, to look closely, and to let my imagination wander. It's a reminder that art is not just about what we see, but how we see, and what we bring to the experience.