Untitled 2022

This untitled drawing was made in 2022 by Alevtyna Kakhidze. It looks like ink on paper, maybe with some digital touches. It's a comic strip, but with a serious edge, like a political cartoon that's also deeply personal. I love the way Kakhidze uses simple lines to convey so much anxiety and urgency. There's a rawness to the mark-making. The handwriting feels immediate, like she's thinking aloud on the page. See how she overlays blocks of flat color and text? It's a collage of thoughts and observations. There's a panel with the words 'all revolutions are illegal' and then underneath it she writes 'public events.' The relationship between the handwritten text and the line drawings reveals the artist's feelings about authoritarianism, filtered through personal experience, especially regarding family and friends. This piece reminds me of the work of Philip Guston, in the sense that it uses a deliberately crude style to address complex issues. Like Guston, Kakhidze isn't afraid to be vulnerable and direct. It's a reminder that art can be both a form of protest and a way to process the world around us.