Willy

Just thought I would share a random new artist I learned about today. Mr. William Kentridge is a South African artist of European descent. His father was the legal representative for the family of Steve Biko and Winnie Mandela, Nelson Mandela's wife. So, Kentridge grew up with the constant awareness that his skin tone gave him immense privilege. In the early 90s he decided to start taking photos of his drawings in progress, leading to these films called "drawing projections"-- he refuses to label them animations. You can tell that the images come from a single drawing, edited and rephotographed. The traces of whatever he has erased and changed make the drawings that much more beautiful. In this film, you can tell when he has smoothed some transitions between photos, but all in all, his technique is fantastic to watch.



In October, I went to a show at the Kyle Kauffman Gallery in the city and randomly ran across one of his prints. I remember standing in front of it for at least fifteen minutes straight. And after I left, I couldn't get it out of my mind. Here it is, Studio Portrait, from the gallery's website. It is about three feet tall and two feet wide. Riveting.