The Fourth 'Book of Schemes'. Album #1, the Third Folder 1978

This series of six images, 'The Fourth "Book of Schemes"', was made by Valerii Lamakh as part of an album. They are like visual notations, the kind of thing an artist might make while puzzling through a creative problem. I love the simple mark making of this piece. It's all lines and geometry, right? The shapes have been economically rendered in a muted palette, all blacks, whites, and beiges, which gives the piece a quiet and reflective mood. Look closely, and you'll see that the whole composition is filled with subtle variations and irregularities, which makes it feel handmade and human. The bottom-right square is my favorite because it’s the most resolved - a grid of crosses within a square. I also like the ways that the implied movement of the arrows in the top left image become the addition signs in the bottom-left square. Thinking about this work reminds me of Sol LeWitt's wall drawings, where simple rules generate complex patterns and possibilities. Art's really just a conversation, isn't it?