- 480
William Kentridge
Description
- William Kentridge
- Memo
- signed, titled and dated 2005
- DVD, charcoal on paper, wood, foamcore, steel supports and string
- Overall Dimensions Variable
- Installation: 104 by 143 by 100 in. 264.2 by 363.2 by 254 cm.
- Executed in 1993-2005.
Provenance
Acquired by the present owner from the above in November 2005
Exhibited
Condition
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
According to Kentridge, it is necessary to “find your very direct personal point of entry into each drawing or set of images of film. If that’s done diligently enough, it will also make sense beyond your immediate circle." The artist's videos are inspired by his personal experiences, which allow them to resonate universally with the audience.
Entering the art scene in the 1980s, Kentridge has made racial segregation and oppression, rampant in his native country of South Africa, a central theme in his artistic output, and has included everything from animation to set design to acting. In Kentridge’s animations, charcoal drawings play a significant role. As seen in Memo, the artist often navigates the space between drawing and film, believing that drawing is “… a slow-motion version of thought... The uncertain and imprecise way of constructing a drawing is sometimes a model of how to construct meaning.”
Music is a key element that Kentridge utilizes to create specific moods and convey emotion more powerfully. In the present video, composer Phillip Miller renders a melancholy score to accompany the video’s dancing duel between the human body and the drawn line.
William Kentridge was educated at the University Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa and has exhibited internationally in major venues such as the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and at the Venice Biennale in Italy. The artist has won numerous international awards and has been included in over 100 exhibitions–including a projection in Times Square. In 2010, William Kentridge was approached by the Metropolitan Opera in New York to design the stage and set of Shostakovich's famed opera "The Nose"; the resulting work, including the grandiose stage, the sets and videos that animated the staging, was one of the Metropolitan Opera’s most acclaimed productions of recent seasons. In Memo, Kentridge thus combines all of his passions melding a powerful installation created from numerous intensively worked drawings, an animated video along with an emotive musical composition, into the ultimate work.