新闻News正文

Drawn from Africa: National Gallery of Australia opens an exhibition devoted to the artist William Kentridge

2013-10-07 08:48:26artdaily

CANBERRA.- The National Gallery of Australia yetserday opened William Kentridge: Drawn from Africa an exhibition devoted to the artist, William Kentridge.

Kentridge is an exceptional South African contemporary artist whose works are inspired by some of the most topical subjects in South African society and politics. Kentridge is a brilliant practitioner in a variety of media such as film, tapestry design, drawing and printmaking. The National Gallery has been collecting the work of Kentridge for the nation and this exhibition will reveal the breadth of the Gallery’s holdings to the Australian public.

Kentridge was born in 1955 in Johannesburg. From the 1950s, Kentridge’s mother and father were both actively involved in supporting South Africa’s anti-apartheid activists and his family’s involvement in these injustices played an important role in his development and informed his work as a gifted figurative artist. In this context, Kentridge considered abstract art and conceptual art ‘an impossible activity’ in South Africa.

‘Much of what was contemporary in Europe and America during the 1960s and 1970s seemed distant and incomprehensible to me. Images became familiar from exhibitions and publications but the impulses behind the work did not make the transcontinental jump to South Africa,’ he says.

‘Kentridge’s art belongs to a tradition of some of the great figurative artists of the past such as William Hogarth, Francisco Goya and Honoré Daumier as well as the German Expressionists Max Beckmann and George Grosz. These artists created powerful imagery that explored the social conditions of their time. While Kentridge follows in their footsteps, he also develops imagery of subtlety and imagination’ said Jane Kinsman, Senior Curator, International Prints and Drawings at the National Gallery of Australia.

As he matured, Kentridge addressed political subjects but not in a strident way. There is a remarkable lightness of touch, a subtlety that is enhanced by juxtaposition, metaphor, irony and a sense of the absurd or of humour. He ignores conventional artistic categories and maintaining a fluid process of making art is important to him. Drawing in charcoal in particular was an ideal medium as adding to and subtracting from compositions provided Kentridge with the ability to explore his subjects without finality. The process also facilitated his hand-drawn films which he erased and augmented his drawings during the process of filming. In this way, Kentridge is able to remodel, dismantle or dissolve his subjects as he develops his imagery over time.

(责任编辑:刘路涛)

推荐关键字William Kentridge

相关文章

作品推荐

展览推荐

拍卖预展

2022年春季艺术品拍卖会
安徽省艺观拍卖有限公司
预展时间:2030年12月31日
预展地点:安徽省芜湖市萧瀚美
北京盈昌当代书画专场(十
北京盈昌国际拍卖有限公司
预展时间:2022年3月21日-30日
预展地点:北京盈昌网拍
北京盈昌当代书画专场拍卖
北京盈昌国际拍卖有限公司
预展时间:2022年3月21日-27日
预展地点:北京盈昌网拍

官网推荐

拍卖指数

比上一拍卖季:↓24%当前指数:5,717
国画400指数

每日最新

每周热点

  1. 1 艺术品消费“吃快餐”,远离了傲慢还
  2. 2 守护诚信 致力传承,雅昌鉴证备案以领
  3. 3 央视3·15曝光疯狂的翡翠直播间:古玩
  4. 4 张大千剧迹《仿王希孟千里江山图》睽
  5. 5 “写实主义与超现实主义的对话--孙家
  6. 6 佳士得纽约亚洲艺术周 | 重要大理国铜
  7. 7 Poly-Online丨“春意”上线——中国
  8. 8 XR技术与艺术创作融合的元宇宙虚拟
  9. 9 专稿 | 是什么成就了加埃塔诺·佩谢
  10. 10 艺术号·专栏 | 陈履生:画中的少数

排行榜

论坛/博客热点

推荐视频

业务合作: 010-80451148 bjb@artron.net 责任编辑: 程立雪010-80451148

关于我们产品介绍人才招聘雅昌动态联系我们网站地图版权说明免责声明隐私权保护友情链接雅昌集团专家顾问法律顾问
  • 艺术头条App
    艺术头条App
意见反馈