Untitled 2022

This untitled drawing by Alevtyna Kakhidze is made with colored pencils, maybe crayons, on what looks like a page torn from a sketchbook. The drawing process feels immediate, like a visual diary entry. I am really drawn to the simple directness of the mark-making, the vulnerable quality of the lines that are a little unsure, and the flat planes of color. The colors are applied loosely, with some white space around the edges of the forms. It's like looking at a political cartoon, but one filtered through a child’s perspective. Notice how the figures at the bottom are cut off by the edge of the page. It gives the impression of an ongoing struggle, and a story that is unfolding. The handwritten text adds another layer of intimacy, like a personal annotation. For me this piece speaks to the idea of art as a form of communication, not necessarily striving for polish, but for raw, unmediated expression, maybe akin to the work of outsider artists like Henry Darger.