Canonical Image 1979

Oleksandr Aksinin made this "Canonical Image" with what looks like watercolor and ink on paper. The purple background is laid down in horizontal stripes, like a stained wood panel, and then this odd little contraption is placed on top. The forms are outlined in hard black lines, and then filled in with these radiant, clashing yellows, oranges and reds. It is like looking at a diagram for a machine that has no function, or maybe a very strange one. Like art, maybe? Look at how the orange pears float above the rest of the structure. The colours are translucent, luminous. Aksinin doesn't seem too concerned with accurate perspective. The whole picture has a beautiful, naive quality, like a cross between a religious icon and a cubist still-life. I am reminded of the work of Paul Klee. Both Klee and Aksinin create their own worlds through personal symbols and forms. They make art that invites you to slow down and embrace ambiguity.