onepeople
met with William Kentridge on the eve of our journey's end.
After hearing so much about his work from his South African
peers, and seeing examples of his work at the Biennale, we
were eager to spend time with him, recording his thoughts.
Following our return to the United States, Kentridge was one
of three finalists for the 1998 Hugo Boss award.
A
rather stoic individual, Kentridge greeted us warmly at
his studio where we had a chance to see some works-in-progress.
Tracing the evolution of his work, one can easily appreciate
the growing magnitude of his creative projects. Beginning
with two-dimensional charcoal drawing on paper, Kentridge
soon included the element of time to his drawings through
the medium of film. Returning to the drawing board after
a few years, he then incorporated the element of space to
his work with the addition of the Handspring
Puppet Company. Ubu and the Truth Commission,
an internationally heralded piece of theater, has in turn
led Kentridge to the addition of audio dynamics -- in the
name of opera.
William
Kentridge was born in Johannesburg in 1955. In 1976 he graduated
from the University of the Witwatersrand with majors in
Politics and African Studies. From 1976 to 1978 he was a
student at the Johannesburg Art Foundation, where he taught
etching for two years thereafter. William Kentridge has
gained international recognition for his distinctive animated
short films, and for the charcoal drawings he makes in producing
them. But Kentridge has worked in theatre for many years,
initially as a designer and actor, and more recently as
a director. Since 1992 his theatre involvement has been
in collaboration with Handspring Puppet Company - creating
multi-media pieces using puppets, live actors and animation.
Whilst he has throughout his career moved between film,
drawing and theatre, his primary activity remains drawing
- and he sometimes conceives his theatre and film work as
an expanded form of drawing. Since participating in Dokumenta
X in Kassel in 1997, solo shows of Kentridge's work have
been hosted by note William Kentridge¹s work has been divided
into the categories of solo and group exhibitions, theatre
and film. Listings under 'film' refer only to the process
of making animated films - films are frequently included
in exhibitions, and have been screened at numerous film
festivals not mentioned here. Theatre and multi-media, live
events appear under 'theatre', which also includes animation
created as part of theatre productions.