Untitled. Srawberry Andreevna 2017

Alevtyna Kakhidze made this drawing, Untitled. Strawberry Andreevna, with what looks like a crayon on paper. The simplicity in the mark-making is striking – it’s like seeing the world distilled to its barest essentials. It reminds me of how children draw, all gesture and raw expression. The earth-toned crayon sketches out figures and forms, with little bursts of orange suggesting strawberries – or are they flowers? The texture of the crayon gives everything a slightly rough, immediate feel. See how the lines wobble and break, especially in the figure on the right, precariously balanced on what could be a ladder? That wobble tells a story of its own, about vulnerability, perhaps. It’s this combination of fragility and directness that grabs me. You know, it's almost like looking at a Cy Twombly drawing, where the beauty lies in the imperfection. And like Twombly, Kakhidze reminds us that art doesn’t always need to be polished to be profound.