Untitled 2022

Alevtyna Kakhidze made this *Untitled* drawing with what looks like felt tip pens. There's such a directness to the marks, a real sense of the hand at work, like she's thinking right onto the page. It’s all about line here – thin, kind of wobbly, but confident in its simplicity. Take the figure on the left, stranded on a small island in a blue sea. It's the island named ‘Rasiia’. The lines form a body, hands outstretched, almost childlike, while other lines create a face that seems troubled and knowing. Then there's the speech bubble – or banner – filled with questions, in blue ink, about silence, disappearance, and embrace. The colors are minimal, but somehow the blue of the sea and text amplifies the emotional temperature of the work. This feels like a cousin to the work of outsider artists like Bill Traylor, maybe because of its raw emotionality and the way it uses simple forms to express complex feelings. Like all good art, it leaves you with more questions than answers.