Sunday, March 15, 2009

William Kentridge ~ Mine (1991)

There was a wonderful article today in the New York Times on a retrospective of South African's William Kentridge at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He is known for his work that explores the effects of apartheid.
The NYT article reads..."He became famous for his own stop-motion animation technique, which he calls “Stone Age animation.” He makes a charcoal drawing, films it, alters it by adding or erasing marks, and then films the drawing again, repeating this procedure so that an entire scene can unfold, unscripted, on a single sheet of paper. In the process viewers can witness the elemental act of artistic creation: the transformation, say, of a female figure into an electric tower with a few simple lines. We also bear witness to the residue. Because he uses charcoal, Mr. Kentridge leaves behind traces when erasing part of a scene, a lesson in the impossibility of ever truly blotting out personal memory or national history."
It is an amazing process that is so potent. I was first introduced to this artist at Art Basel in Miami. I watched one of his films that has haunted me for years. After reading the NYT article I went to You Tube and was thrilled to find the film. Mine by William Kentridge

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