Untitled. Srawberry Andreevna 2019

This piece by Alevtyna Kakhidze is made on paper, with what looks like ink, or maybe marker pen – it's hard to tell without seeing it in person. But I can imagine the artist outlining that shape, going over it again and again. The frame that she's drawn is rough and ready. You can see the hesitations and wobbles of her hand. It encloses a space where she’s pasted text from what looks like a printed source along with her own handwritten words. She’s building up a narrative between text and image. I wonder what Kakhidze was thinking as she was making it? Perhaps she wanted to convey a sense of immediacy and spontaneity. I know that feeling when something needs to be expressed right away. This piece reminds me of other artists who combine image and text – like Raymond Pettibon, for instance, or even some of the early Dada artists. They're all in conversation with each other, across time, inspiring each other's creativity. Painting embraces ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations.