Neighbourhood #14 2021

Pavlo Makov made "Neighborhood #14" on paper using etching techniques. It’s like he's mapping out a place, or maybe a state of mind, with these stark architectural forms. The buildings, rendered in meticulous detail, have a kind of cold beauty, but the overall feel is distant, analytical. Look at the hatched texture and the fine, precise lines that construct each building. There’s a relentless quality to the pattern-making, a near obsessive process that I recognise in my own artmaking. The red dot floats above the composition, tethered by a single line, and it hints at something that is just out of reach. The whole thing reminds me a little of Piranesi's etchings, but with a contemporary, slightly unnerving twist. Like Piranesi, Makov revels in architectural complexity, but there's an added layer of psychological tension here. Is it a dream, or is it a diagram? Either way, it’s a space I want to spend more time in, wandering around the possibilities.