V 1980

Oleksandr Aksinin made this small, detailed print, titled V, sometime before 1985. It’s all about the process, isn’t it? The way he builds up the image from tiny, obsessive marks, creating textures and patterns. The color is almost monochrome, a muted green that feels both futuristic and archaic. It reminds me of old blueprints or maybe some kind of strange, biological diagram. Look at the way he uses hatching to create depth, how the density of the lines makes some areas recede while others pop forward. The whole thing feels like a puzzle. My eye keeps getting drawn to the central structure, like some kind of bizarre machine or temple. It’s hard to tell exactly what it is, but the level of detail is mesmerizing. Aksinin's work reminds me a little bit of Paul Klee, that same playful exploration of form and line. Art isn’t about answers, it’s about the questions that keep us looking.