How is William Kentridge innovative?

2 years ago

2 minutes

Artist Bio William Kentridge uses drawings to create films. In his works, unlike in traditional animation that employs multiple drawings to denote change and movement, Kentridge erases and alters a single, stable drawing while recording the changes with stop-motion camera work.

What is unique about William Kentridge?

Kentridge believed that being ethnically Jewish gave him a unique position as a third-party observer in South Africa. His parents were lawyers, well-known for their defence of victims of apartheid. Kentridge developed an ability to remove himself somewhat from the atrocities committed under the later regimes.

Why is William Kentridge important?

William Kentridge, (born April 28, 1955, Johannesburg, South Africa), South African graphic artist, filmmaker, and theatre arts activist especially noted for a sequence of hand-drawn animated films he produced during the 1990s.

What message does William Kentridge carry over to society through his work?

Kentridge often uses mines as a metaphor for the social-economical structure and conditions in South Africa. In general, it symbolises the capitalist system that was abused and maintained. There was very little consideration for social issues at the time.

How does William Kentridge work referring to art forms?

As such the artist uses basic charcoal as his primary medium and always holds onto the childhood impulse to draw. Typically sombre and relatively dark in mood, Kentridge’s work is rooted in the Expressionist tradition and recalls images by the likes of Käthe Kollwitz and Francis Bacon.

What themes does William Kentridge use?

Known for engaging with the social landscape and political background of his native South Africa, he has produced a searing body of work that explores themes of colonial oppression and social conflict, loss and reconciliation, and the ephemeral nature of both personal and cultural memory.

What is William Kentridge philosophy?

“I am interested in a political art, that is to say an art of ambiguity, contradiction, uncompleted gestures and uncertain ending – an art (and a politics) in which optimism is kept in check, and nihilism at bay.”