Untitled 2022

This untitled drawing by Alevtyna Kakhidze is all swift lines and loaded statements. Imagine her hand moving quickly across the page, black marker in hand, creating a flurry of text and image. I imagine that it might have felt urgent, even necessary to make this drawing. The scrawled words, maybe names of people are stacked like thoughts tumbling over each other, with a skeletal arm reaching upwards, as if grasping for something. And what about the little creature in Ukrainian colours? It’s like a surrealist emblem, maybe a political statement? Look at the directness of the application, the lack of fussing or pretense. It reminds me of outsider art, or maybe even some of Picasso’s more raw and immediate drawings. There’s a sense of immediacy and vulnerability here, a feeling that Kakhidze is processing something big, right in front of us. It’s like she is having a conversation with other artists, echoing their approaches while forging her own unique path. Painting like this isn’t about answers; it’s about staying with the questions, embracing the mess, and seeing what emerges.