Alexander Aksinin

Alexander Aksinin (2 October 1949 – 3 May 1985) was a Ukrainian printmaker and painter. His sophisticated etching technique, precision and perfectionist attention to details earned him the sobriquet the “Dürer of Lviv”. Art critics hailed him as “a 20th century Piranesi” for his dramatic and elaborate constructs.

Early life and education Alexander Aksinin was born to military cartographer Dmitriy Aksinin and railroad official Ludmila Aksinina. In 1972 he graduated from the Ukrainian Institute of Printing, where he specialized in Graphics Arts.

Career From 1972 to 1977, Aksinin worked as an art editor in a publishing house, served in the Soviet army and then worked as an art designer in an industrial design office.

After 1977, he focused entirely on his art, in particular in the fields of printed and drawn graphics. Aksinin's solo exhibitions were held in Tallinn, Estonia (1979, 1986), Lodz, Poland (1981, 1985), Warsaw (1984), Lviv (1987) and others. He also took part in various group exhibitions in the USSR and abroad.

Death On 3 May 1985, on his way back from Tallinn, Alexander Aksinin died in a plane crash near Zolochiv, close to Lviv.

Art

A. Aksinin made 343 printed graphics including 3 unfinished works (mainly etching), about 200 unique drawn graphics in mixed techniques (gouache, India ink, color ink), as well as five oil paintings.

Exhibitions

Aksinin regularly participated in the International Biennale of Small Graphics Forms in Łódź (Poland), in 1979 and 1985.

2017 Aksinin's Labyrinths. National Art Museum of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine 2014 Alexander Aksinin. Methagraphics: The Insight Experience. Lviv National Art Gallery, Lviv, Ukraine 2013 Poetics of the Absurd, Gallery la Brique, Frankfurt, Germany 2012 Metagraphics: Alexander Aksinin. Gallery Pionova, Gdansk, Poland Aks-Art & Aks-Libris. Exlibris Gallery, Warsaw, Poland 2010 Aksinin. Excessus. Gallery Vata, Rostov-on-Don, Russia Alexander Aksinin. National Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia 2009 Alexander Aksinin: The Inner Experience. Art Gallery Primus, Lviv, Ukraine 2008 Aksinin: Eternal Books - Visual Images. Exhibition Hall of Don State Public Library, Rostov-on-Don, Russia 2008 Time-Space-Eternity. The State Museum of A.Pushkin, Moscow, Russia 2006 Alexander Aksinin. Day R. Museum of Contemporary Visual Art on Dmitrovskoy, Rostov-on-Don, Russia 2001 Alexander Aksinin's Etchings. Gallery Dzyga, Lviv, Ukraine 1992 Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia 1991 Museum of Russian Art, Kiev, Ukraine 1988 66 Etchings of Alexander Aksinin from private collections. Gallery of Graphics and Drawings, Gdynia, Poland; Muzeum Zamkowe, Malbork, Poland 1987 Museum of Ukrainian Art, Lviv, Ukraine 1985 Gallery In Blanco, Łódź, Poland 1985 Art Saloon, Tallinn, Estonia 1984 Gallery of Contemporary Soviet Art, Warsaw, Poland 1981 January — Gallery Bałucka, Łódź, Poland 1979 Estonian State Art Institute, Tallinn, Estonia