Untitled 2022

Here is a pen drawing of some figures on two pages of an open sketchbook by Alevtyna Kakhidze. The figures are drawn with quick, spontaneous lines and are labelled 'Ukrainian,' 'Black,' and 'Indigenous people in North America and Russia'. The lines feel urgent, capturing the energy of the figures and the spaces between them. Then you have the figure of a 'Director of museum in Russia,' whose expression is more complex. He has a speech bubble with Russian text. I like how she has included different cultural references. I wonder what Kakhidze was thinking as she drew these characters, capturing their essence and history with such minimal means? Drawing like this reminds me of artists like William Kentridge or Nicole Eisenman. There's something about the rawness and immediacy of pen on paper that bypasses the intellect and goes straight to the gut.