William Kentridge is a good example of what I consider an all-around great artist. His work has rich form and content. Before seeing this show at the MOMA, I had only seen one video of his in a museum. I did not have a base of knowledge of what his work was about. As the title of this show was, Five Themes, I was sure I would soon find out.
The primary subjects investigated in Kentridge's work over the past 30 years have been: Soho and Felix (about a businessman and his alter ego), Ubu and the Procession (about excitement and change in post-aparteid South Africa), the artist in his studio, The Magic Flute (work inspired by set designs for Mozart's opera) and The Nose (the work inspired by his work for the Met).
As I walked around the show and watched the videos, I began to think of Kentridge as a magician of sorts. By using visual tricks (like playing the video in reverse) we are able to suspend our disbelief and just enjoy the show. He dazzles us with such interesting sights that it is easy to be drawn in by the images before you realize the themes of the work. He makes the mood complex and rich by his constant drawing and erasing and re-defining. By merging sometimes depressing or melencholy images and using triumphant, fun music, he reveals a mood mixed with hope and a long bitter cultural history. Mixing all of these formal and conceptual elements together evokes a liveliness in the work; the figures are moving, the images of the figures are changing, music is playing. In working this way, he is playing with our sense of time. There's a literal movement in time, even as we are watching the videos play.
The primary subjects investigated in Kentridge's work over the past 30 years have been: Soho and Felix (about a businessman and his alter ego), Ubu and the Procession (about excitement and change in post-aparteid South Africa), the artist in his studio, The Magic Flute (work inspired by set designs for Mozart's opera) and The Nose (the work inspired by his work for the Met).
As I walked around the show and watched the videos, I began to think of Kentridge as a magician of sorts. By using visual tricks (like playing the video in reverse) we are able to suspend our disbelief and just enjoy the show. He dazzles us with such interesting sights that it is easy to be drawn in by the images before you realize the themes of the work. He makes the mood complex and rich by his constant drawing and erasing and re-defining. By merging sometimes depressing or melencholy images and using triumphant, fun music, he reveals a mood mixed with hope and a long bitter cultural history. Mixing all of these formal and conceptual elements together evokes a liveliness in the work; the figures are moving, the images of the figures are changing, music is playing. In working this way, he is playing with our sense of time. There's a literal movement in time, even as we are watching the videos play.
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