Untitled 2022

Curator: This drawing, simply titled "Untitled," was created in 2022 by Alevtyna Kakhidze using pen. It has an immediacy, doesn't it? Editor: Absolutely. The crude lines give it the quality of a protest sign, a quick sketch capturing a fleeting thought. It feels raw, visceral. Curator: I'm drawn to the juxtaposition of the almost childlike drawing style with the heavy themes it evokes. We have, on one side, a figure identified as Maurizio Lazzarato pontificating about Western philosophy. The artist uses text like another visual element. Editor: And then there's that scrawled statement, the core of it: "...to believe that Russia is the cause of a potential Third World War is like believing the assassination in Sarajevo was the cause of the first..." Stark, almost blunt in its historical connection. The symbols too--Ukrainian and Russian flags, stick figures firing at each other – it’s all laid out so directly. It brings a particular moment in our current political history to life. Curator: The line work, thin yet insistent, conveys a nervous energy. There is no shading, just stark black lines against a white background, emphasizing the feeling of immediacy. The two characters feel at once both monumental and small on the landscape. I wonder what cultural and intellectual position that reveals in the piece? Editor: This image engages directly with current events, but it reflects a longer pattern. Art and political commentary often intersect, each informing the other. How do artists visualize conflicts and philosophical viewpoints to address complex political questions? Curator: It underscores how persistent patterns of political tensions are – those visual cues trigger responses linked to both immediate experience and historical narratives, echoing events such as those triggered by events from Sarajevo. Editor: This piece distills a complex, painful geopolitical moment down to its rawest visual essence. A potent reminder of the artist's role as commentator and witness. Curator: Indeed. And, in a few decades, what symbols and historical touchstones from this drawing will carry through to future audiences? Only time will tell what the drawing will come to mean for subsequent generations.