William Kentridge Response

Week 4 Day 1: William Kentridge Response

Today in class we watch a video documentary about William Kentridge and his work. Since I had just done research on him I was actually excited to learn even more. Late in the film he made the comment that while younger and in his studies Kentridge had a difficult time deciding between Film, Drawing, and performance or Theater. As he result he never chose one over the others. Since he still flips back and fourth between all three, he is constantly seeing things in new perspectives and it aids in what ever project he is in. Theater could inspire a drawing that later relates in one of his films. Whatever the case you will often see Kentridge intertwine film, drawing, and theater within each other.

I was fascinated with how Kentridge created his animations. By taking one drawing he alters it many times instead of redrawing the same drawing on different pages similar to cell animation. Taking one drawing he captures it on film, then erases and redraws on the same page the next frame in his animation. Once finished he again captures it on film and starts the process again. Although the end product isn't as clean as cell drawing I find the rough, loose gestural drawing conveys his messages better then clean cell animation would. His animations are rather dark and dismal, creating emotions in me of guilt or shame and confusion. If he used many different pages in his animation instead of the 20 some odd he uses and reuses I believe the general feel of his animation would be different. Plus the media of his choice, charcoal, aids in his fluid loose gestural quick drawings. During the video Kentridge made the comment that if he gets caught up in a frame and trying to make it a nice drawing, he intentionally will rough it up. Combining his type of drawings, his media and his process you are left with an animation that is personally his. 100% his style and message. Without a doubt William Kentridge is leaving his mark in the 21st century.

William Kentridge

Week 3 Day 1: William Kentridge

"What hasn't this man done?"

I was dumb founded when selecting William Kentridge who I wanted to do research on. Originally I thought his form of animation was fascinating and wanted to learn more about his charcoal drawings and how they develop into films. Now as I continue to read I find Kentridge has filled his life with many creative projects.

In 1955 William Kentridge was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He earned his Bachelor degree in Politics and African Studies at the University of Witwatersrand located in Johannesburg, South Africa. Then trying his (very successful) hand to visual arts he attended Johannesburg Art Foundation. Later in the early 1980's he traveled to Paris, France where he studied mime and theatre at L'Ecole Internationale de Theatre Jacques Lecoq. Using everything he has learned Kentridge has applied Politics into his art, making statements in animation, performance, drawings and more.

In 1998 Kentridge staged his first opera, and not just any opera, a highly detailed puppet opera. Telling the story of The Return of Ulysses. One of his most recent projects was The Magic Flute (Link )featured at Broooklyn's Academy of Music in 2007. Kentridge was not only the director, but he also designed costumes and sets for the performance.

I would have to say that one of my personal favorites of his animation would be Automatic Writing (Link). Although this film's narrative in not linear, I appreciate how it's interactive for the viewer, allowing the viewer to choose the story. There is no doubt in my mind that Kentridge will give us more years of creativity and performance.