An exhibition of recent work by William Kentridge opens on November 10th 2007, at the Goodman Gallery. This exhibition, entitled What Will Come takes its title from the Ghanaian proverb ‘What will come has already come’.
Kentridge is renowned for his animated films, drawn and animated using trademark multiple erasure technique, in which he explores the nature of human emotion and memories, and deals with the quest for cultural identity, ingrained history and politics of South Africa, intensely dedicating himself to issues of sight in his work*. Through a series of new drawings, prints, and stereoscopic images that form the basis of What Will Come, Kentridge continues to explore the medium of sight, reflecting his continued concern with optics and the construction of seeing. The exhibition is centered around an eight minute anamorphic film, entitled What will come.
This film draws on the idea of the picture puzzle that originated in the sixteenth century. Kentridge translates this play with perception that operates distorted images that can only be deciphered from a certain angle in his film. The technique of cylindrical mirror anamorphosis Kentridge employs is based on a further level of perception. It is not enough to change one’s point of view but a cylindrical mirror is essential to decode the picture, with a certain radius that reflects the distorted image, causing it to ‘straighten’ optically. The production of these images relies on Kentridge’s profound knowledge of mathematical rules and optical foundations*.
A number of anamorphic drawings from the film will also be shown, mirrored in cylinders. Other work concerned with optics and the construction of seeing, includes series of stereoscopic photogravures that take on three dimensions as one looks through large stereoscopic viewers. Outsized stereoscopic drawings likewise gain unexpected depth when viewed stereoscopically. In addition to this work which deconstructs the mechanics of seeing, 40 to 50 graphics from the past year will be shown.
These relate to the opera The Magic Flute, the mini-theatre installation Black Box, the film What Will Come, and to Shostakovich’s opera The Nose. Finally, a series of table-top equestrian sculptures muse on ‘the Nose on horseback’, as Kentridge begins work towards a production of Shostakovich’s opera The Nose, to open in New York in 2010.
Artworks
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Artist Bio
William Kentridge (b. 1955, Johannesburg, South Africa) is internationally acclaimed for his drawings, films, theatre and opera productions.
In 2024, in Venice, Kentridge premiered a new nine-episode video series, 'Self-Portriait as a Coffee Pot,' - a site-specific installation curated by long-time collaborator and curator Carolyn Christov Bakargiev at the Arsenale Institute for Politics of Representation. Following this, in October, MUBI presented: William Kentridge’s, ‘Self-Portrait as a Coffee-Pot’ Premiere in New York.
In conjunction with the world premiere of his newly commissioned opera, 'The Great Yes, The Great No,' which debuted at LUMA Arles in July 2024, the solo exhibition, 'Je n’attends plus' (I’m Not Waiting Any Longer) presents a collection of major works, some of which had not been seen in Europe before.
Kentridge’s largest UK survey to date was held at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 2022. An iteration of Kentridge's Royal Academy survey opened at the Taipei Museum of Fine Arts in May 2024. In the same year Kentridge opened another major survey exhibition, 'In Praise of Shadows,' at The Broad, Los Angeles. In 2023, this exhibition traveled to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Kentridge’s work has been seen in museums across the globe since the 1990s, including the Luma Foundation, France (2024); Arsenale Institute for Politics of Representation, Venice (2024); Taipei Fine Arts Museum (2024); Museum of Modern Art, New York (1999, 2005, 2010); Albertina Museum, Vienna (2010); Musée du Louvre, Paris (2010); National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea; Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid (2015); Kunstmuseum Basel (2019); Norval Foundation, Cape Town (2019). The artist has also participated in biennale’s including Documenta in Kassel (2012, 2002, 1997) and the Venice Biennale (2015, 2013, 2005, 1999, 1993).
Collections include: MoMA, New York; Tate Modern, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Haus der Kunst, Munich; Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah; National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto; Guggenheim, Abu Dhabi and Zeitz MoCAA, Cape Town.
Kentridge lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa.
