Untitled 2022

Alevtyna Kakhidze made this untitled drawing using what looks like felt tip pens or coloured pencils. There's a raw simplicity to the marks, like a child's drawing, but it speaks volumes. The surface is just plain paper. You can almost feel its texture. The colours are direct, primary. A yellow crown hovers, dripping melancholy, while another stands firm, flanked by what looks like Russian flags. The red scribbles beneath it could be flames or blood. It's all so direct and unpretentious, but that's what gives it its punch. Look closely at the wobbly line that makes up the horizon, it's so vulnerable and yet so assertive. It reminds me a bit of Philip Guston's later work, that same embrace of the naive and the deeply felt, as though truth can only be told through such plainness. In the end, it's the honesty that grabs you. It doesn’t try to be slick or clever, just raw and real.