Untitled 2022

Alevtyna Kakhidze made this drawing with ink, or maybe a felt-tip pen, in a notebook. Look at the bold graphic marks and the way they sit on the page, almost like cartoon cells. I imagine Kakhidze sitting, maybe outside, with her notebook open, thinking about things. There is this lone figure floating above a landscape with flags. Are they marking territories? The arrows feel heavy with meaning, pointing towards "then" and "bad" respectively. The date, 24.02.2022, marks the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. You feel the emotional charge in the red ink, the starkness of the contrast between before and after, and the fragility of the moment. This is like a Cy Twombly, but with real stakes. It's loose and personal, like diary scribbles, but it speaks volumes about the way art can help us process and make sense of the world.