Untitled 2022

Curator: We are looking at a work by Alevtyna Kakhidze, titled "Untitled." Created in 2022, it's an ink and pen drawing that rather bluntly depicts a geopolitical situation. Editor: It hits you like a punch, doesn’t it? Very raw, feels like it’s ripped straight from a protest sign. There’s an almost childlike quality to the figures that amplifies the vulnerability of the message, but look closely - this is about war. Curator: Indeed. The piece employs figuration in a deceptively simple manner. We see a linear landscape populated with figures holding signs. Their construction—the schematic drawing style—pushes us toward the underlying meaning. Notice how the landscape elements themselves take on a symbolic dimension, reduced as they are. Editor: Exactly! “European countries” worrying “only about gas!”, while figures labeled as representing Ukraine hold another sign – “are we the last?” And then there's that imposing pipeline stretching towards Russia… the bluntness is brutal, actually quite masterful. There's something viscerally upsetting about the bloodied marks scattered on figures that are themselves stripped down to just stark outlines. It all communicates urgency. Curator: I concur. Kakhidze has reduced forms to almost iconic status, highlighting the political realities while utilizing the semiotic properties of line and text to underscore particular tensions and vulnerabilities within a larger, asymmetrical power structure. Note, the choice of materials, too. The pen and ink suggest a sketch, a visual dispatch almost, immediate and unrehearsed. Editor: Right. It feels like a quick and furious reaction, an unfiltered scream of a statement, rather than a carefully considered composition. I can almost imagine the artist creating it in one sitting, barely lifting the pen from the paper. Makes you wonder about her state of mind. It's powerful to make art from that raw emotional place; that is, to reflect something honest, vulnerable and of our time. It will linger, I think, in the memory. Curator: Agreed, it offers a poignant, urgent perspective on contemporary anxieties surrounding geopolitical conflict. Editor: Yes, leaving you pondering uncomfortable truths, I should think.