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

Valerii Lamakh made 'The Fourth 'Book of Schemes'. Album #1, the Second Folder' with ink on paper. It's a series of black glyphs on white, each held within its own little square. I like the handmade quality, the way each 'L' or 'T' varies. It reminds me that artmaking is a process, a series of decisions and actions that accumulate on the surface. The ink is dense but there are slight variations in tone, maybe from the artist reloading the brush. I like the top right glyph. It’s kinda fat at the top of the vertical stroke. The texture of the paper interacts with the ink. The thinness of the lines defining the squares, drawn with a lighter touch than the confident brushstrokes of the glyphs, and the orientation of each mark offers endless variation within a simple framework. Lamakh was Ukrainian, part of a generation of artists who mixed folk art with modernism. I’m reminded of Paul Klee, who also embraced playful simplicity. Art is an ongoing conversation, a dialogue across time. It’s ok not to know everything, ambiguity is part of the fun.