Drawing, erasing, redrawing

May 6, 2009 8:22 AM

William Kentridge creates animation by working into charcoal drawings; drawing, erasing, redrawing, layering, to create stories that frequently link the intensely intimate with the politics of his native South Africa. Johannesburgh -1989 introduces characters that recur through many of his films.

Monument -1990
Mine -1991
Sobriety, Obesity, and Growing Old -1991
Felix in Exile-1994
History of the Main Complaint - 1996
Weighing...and Wanting -1997
Automatic Writing
Magic Flute, Part 1
Magic Flute, Part 2
Magic Flute, Part 3
What Will Come-2007

On his place in the art world
On a world "fixed in time"

posted by louche mustachio (5 comments total)

Here's the music video he animated for local band Mango Groove: Another Country.
posted by PenDevil at 8:46 AM on May 6

Also see Tide Table (partial, with live accompaniment). I was stunned by Tide Table when I saw it at SFMOMA several years ago. (I was on a first date that wasn't working out; she thought most of the modern art was stupid. After we parted that day, I came back and spent a happy couple of hours looking at Kentridge's work.)
posted by Mapes at 8:57 AM on May 6

Speaking of SFMOMA, there's a large multimedia Kentridge exhibition going on right now called Five Themes. I was fortunate enough to see it on a recent trip, and it was stunning. (The SFMOMA page is light on detail; this SF Chronicle article is a little better.)
posted by cobra libre at 10:01 AM on May 6

Oh, thank you, louche mustachio and Mapes! I saw Tide Table in NYC a couple years ago and was transfixed--very glad to see it again, and more.
posted by hippugeek at 4:28 PM on May 6

I've always wanted to try animation with charcoal. Thanks.
posted by Rykey at 4:52 PM on May 6