Untitled 2022

This untitled drawing by Alevtyna Kakhidze looks like it was jotted down in real time, a spontaneous outpouring of thoughts using simple lines and colors. The artist’s hand is visible, almost like a seismograph recording tremors of feeling. I can imagine Alevtyna making this, maybe in a cafe, with the news on in the background. The contrast between the figures carrying the Russian flag, marked with "z"s like they're sleeping, and those struggling under the German flag, really hits you. It’s like she's asking, what kind of help is this? The raw quality of the drawing, the urgency in the text, it reminds me of artists like Grosz or even Guston, you know, artists who aren’t afraid to use their work as a direct response to the world. It’s a reminder that art is a way of thinking through things, a way of staying alive to what's happening.