To Engelyna Bulyakovska 1982

Oleksandr Aksinin made this print titled "To Engelyna Bulyakovska", using etching, in a monochrome palette. The method feels very particular, quite exacting and precise, with its dedication to the process of mark-making. The image has a dense, dreamlike quality, almost hallucinatory, with these bulbous forms sprouting multiple faces. The surface is deeply worked, with layers of fine lines building up texture and tone. Notice the contrast between the smooth, polished surfaces of the 'lanterns' and the rougher, more granular areas surrounding them. It’s this kind of contrast that gives the piece its particular visual and emotional punch, a kind of friction that keeps the eye moving. And then there are these little snakes intertwining... Aksinin reminds me a little of Alfred Kubin, with that similar interest in the grotesque and the fantastic, and a real dedication to the possibilities of black and white as a vehicle for the imagination. These images don’t offer easy answers, instead they allow space for wandering, wondering.