Quick Battle

Renju is a strategy game. Each move is the construction of one’s positions, bypassing or blocking the opponent’s moves. It is necessary to place 5 balls in a row.In this composition there is a real game that we played in the corridor during air raids. We played very fast – move by move. Maybe it’s because of the speed that this game looks like a geometric ornament.There are 81 etchings in the composition. I was typing during a complete blackout, when we didn’t have electricity, water, heat, mobile communication and the Internet for almost 2 days.And no matter how a strategy is created, there is always a moment of surprise – chance. And each game creates a new field, they are not repeated in order. Some games look like a geometric ornament or some strange code.The history of the composition began with drawings of anti-tank hedgehogs and tires. I created etchings with four different anti-tank hedgehogs and a tire. These etchings became the basis for the series “Crosses and zeros”, the composition “Plus”.Hedgehogs as a symbol of resistance, protection, defense.Tires as a symbol of revolution, purification.In the composition “Renju” tires and anti-tank hedgehogs met in dialogue. Marianna Maslova “Quick Battle”, 2022, etching, 54×54 cm, Kyiv.