Der Erlkönig

Pavla Markova works with the themes of vitality and mortality, ironically exploring the delicate balance of power in nature. The book Der Erlkönig references Goethe’s eponymous poem, a tragic ballad about a terrible meeting between a father and son and a mystical being. Markov examines the nature of dreams and delirium, death and primeval terror, using the dark esthetic of expressionism. The illustrations in the book are generated by a neural network based on the artist’s drawings and photographs. The black‑and‑white palette and tense, sometimes deliberately casual way of making create the irrational sense of a nightmare. Some of the compositions are reminiscent of oval portraits on gravestones and others of otherworldly, mystical totems. As in Goethe’s poem, the book is constructed around a growing anxiety. Here there are juxtaposed images of lost souls, buried memories, and an unstable world where fear and humor coexist at the edge of worlds.