A page from Abracadabra 1 2020

Editor: This is "A page from Abracadabra 1" by Pavlo Makov, created in 2020 using mixed media including drawing, ink, and watercolor on paper. It has a somewhat chaotic feel, like fragmented blueprints scattered across a surface. What can you tell me about it? Curator: The title itself, "Abracadabra," is rich in symbolism. Originally Aramaic, it functioned as an incantation, believed to ward off illness. Makov may be exploring the potency of language and symbol as forms of protection or even control, but through visual means. How do the geometric forms relate, do you think, to this sense of a magical formula? Editor: I see a sort of loose grid. The geometric shapes seem to populate defined, almost architectural spaces. The X's, too, look deliberate. Perhaps they represent a nullification, a crossing out of certain possibilities? Curator: Exactly! Consider how these repetitive geometric elements could function as a kind of alphabet or code, particularly given the work's title. Are they elements that have personal or culturally shared meaning? What does it evoke for you – a map, musical notation, or something else entirely? Editor: It’s interesting you say "map", it's reminiscent of urban planning gone awry. A system overloaded, perhaps. All these forms, but their meanings obscured. Curator: And notice how the looseness of the watercolor contrasts with the rigidity of the implied grid. This interplay could reflect the tension between imposed structure and the fluidity of lived experience. A continuous cultural memory in transition, perhaps. Editor: That makes me reconsider the title again, seeing it less as magic and more as a yearning for order within chaos. Curator: Precisely! What started as an utterance for well-being becomes, here, a complex visual metaphor for something far less certain. It truly reveals the potent ways that artists engage shared experiences through symbolic forms. Editor: It's amazing how the image can evoke so many different interpretations simultaneously. I hadn’t considered how the interaction between intent and medium deepens these connotations. Curator: Indeed, that's how visual language evolves!