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William Kentridge has gained international recognition for his distinctive animated short films and for the charcoal drawings he makes in producing them. Perhaps best known for his stop-motion films of charcoal drawings, the South African artist also works in etching, collage, sculpture, and the performing arts,he is also renowned for his theater-based work, including his collaborations with the Handspring Puppet Company, in which complex multimedia performances combine puppets, animation, projection, and live action. His virtuosity is unmistakable. Kentridge’s visual art spans across traditional media and techniques such as printmaking and drawing, to pioneering short movies and it can be best described as the art of motivity, energetic movement, both subtly and graphically, through social and political issues, an evocative individual imagination.

To fully appreciate Kentridge's talent it's important to understand his process.He makes his films by the painstaking process of drawing and erasing individual images, always on one sheet of paper.Charcoal is exactly the right medium for Kentridge. Burnt carbon has a gravity all its own, and it's perfect for Kentridge's blasted landscapes.His world comes in shades of black, white and gray, with just occasional flecks of red or streams of bright blue.
Dealing with subjects as sobering as apartheid, colonialism, and totalitarianism, his work is often imbued with dreamy, lyrical undertones or comedic bits of self-deprecation that render his powerful messages both alluring and ambivalent.

In his hands simple tools such as charcoal fuel his erudite vision and enable his remarkable versatility. The totality of his creative range and the profound expression of his narrative themes make him incomparable.

William Kentridge - History of the Main Complaint (1996)


William Kentridge - Automatic Writing