Aliens 1984

This black and white etching by Oleksandr Aksinin looks like it emerged slowly, line by line, like a story being told. I wonder what Aksinin was thinking when he made this. The figure below is straining under the weight of a fish or blimp-like object. Encased in a cage and dotted with what appear to be dice, it’s a strange mix of symbolism and surreal imagery. It reminds me of outsider art and the untethered imagination that comes through. The etching is built up with many tiny marks that, together, create a dense and slightly unsettling image. I can imagine Aksinin bent over the plate, adding each dot and line with care, building up this otherworldly scene. All these repetitive marks create texture. Artists are always in conversation with each other, across time, and I wonder if this piece might prompt a playful creative response from another artist, maybe even you! Art making is all about ambiguity, where meaning is always on the move.