Г 2019

Pavlo Makov made this piece, titled Г, using graphic techniques on paper. There's something so simple yet thought-provoking about the relationship between these two buildings, joined at an impossible angle. The black and white contrast is stark, really graphic; you can almost smell the ink. It’s like looking at an architect's fever dream, where the lines are clean but the logic is skewed. I keep coming back to the texture of that black ink, almost velvety, like it wants to absorb all the light in the room. Then, this little thin, wavering line falling down the frame, like a stray hair that shouldn’t be there, or a crack in the negative. This reminds me a little of some of those surrealist landscapes by de Chirico, where the buildings seem to whisper secrets in a language we almost understand. Makov really uses that feeling of uncertainty to create a space for contemplation, and asks us to question what we think we know about space, architecture, and maybe even ourselves.