Giardino per Alex 2019

Pavlo Makov made this piece, Giardino per Alex, using a monochrome palette and some watercolour to create a beautiful garden. It is like he is building the image from lots of tiny marks. The texture is so interesting! Most of the image is built up with fine pen work which creates layers upon layers. Look at the way the trees on the perimeter are formed. He has used very fine pen marks to create a sort of halo around them. Then there is the blue area in the centre. It is formed of lots of blurry watercolour blobs, which contrast so nicely with the sharp dry quality of the pen work surrounding it. The contrast between these two areas is really striking and it creates a sense of depth. It reminds me a little of Alfred Kubin's surreal landscapes, in its dreamlike quality. But Makov has his own way of building up an image through obsessive mark making. He's having a conversation with art history, but his voice is distinctly his own. It’s a beautiful example of how art embraces different interpretations.