|
| |
|
|
Films by and about William Kentridge
BY RANDI HOPKINS
|
|
|
|
|
"I have never been able to escape Johannesburg, and in the end, all my work is rooted in this rather desperate provincial city. I have never tried to make illustrations of apartheid, but the drawings and the films are certainly spawned by, and feed off, the brutalized society left in its wake." Thus spoke renowned South African artist William Kentridge (quoted on-line at artthrob.co.za), whose hypnotic work takes on the political and social legacy of apartheid, and who is the subject of the documentary film "William Kentridge/Drawing the Passing," which will be screened at the Institute of Contemporary Art this Saturday, along with several of Kentridge’s own short films. Kentridge, now 48, is known for the unique animation technique he has developed in which each film sequence begins with a single charcoal drawing that the artist then alters, erases, or redraws, each time photographing the changed drawing to make one frame of the animated film. Kentridge intentionally leaves traces of previous marks as he goes, traces that appear to linger even as the action moves forward and that serve as a metaphor for the persistence of memory. "Drawing the Passing" was made by filmmaker Reinhard Wulf and art historian Maria Anna Tappeiner in 1999, when the pair visited Kentridge in his Johannesburg studio while he was finishing his short film "Stereoscope," which also will be shown at the ICA on Saturday. The overt merging of political and personal expression in Kentridge’s work is rare these days and unusually moving. To give us an insider’s look at the history and current practice of artful furniture making, the Museum of Fine Arts has organized a panel of experts to discuss "Studio Furniture: Perspectives of Pros" in its Remis Auditorium on December 3. Boston Globe art critic and studio-furniture aficionado Christine Temin, Clark Gallery founder and high-end-furniture enthusiast Meredyth Moses, furniture artist and educator Alphonse Mattia, and executive director of the Furniture Society (in Asheville, North Carolina) Andrew Glasgow assemble to share their knowledge and give us a leg up on the newly opened "The Maker’s Hand: American Studio Furniture, 1940–1990," which will be up through February 8. Also awesome along the Fenway: two annual events that define the holiday season in Boston. "The December Sale" at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts offers art for sale by many, many artists connected with the school, from alumni and faculty to students and staff, all to benefit student financial aid, December 4 through 7. Paintings, sculpture, ceramics, jewelry — lots of good stuff, in a kind of frantic bazaar atmosphere (especially the first day or two!). And after you’ve bought some earrings and a big new photograph, stroll over to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum to take in "Mrs. Gardner’s Holiday Table," which opens this Tuesday. The Gardner sets this table afresh each year, with loving attention to the way Mrs. Jack might have done it, using her best Victorian china and crystal, as if friends like John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, and Henry James might be joining her for egg nog. "William Kentridge/Drawing the Passing" will be screened at the Institute of Contemporary Art, 955 Boylston Street, this Saturday, November 22, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $7; call (617) 266-5152. "Studio Furniture: Perspectives of Pros" will take place at the Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Avenue, December 3 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $13 ($10 for MFA members); call (617) 369-3300. "The December Sale" at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, 230 the Fenway, takes place December 4 from noon to 8 p.m. and December 5 through 7 from noon to 6 p.m.; call (617) 369-3718. "Mrs. Gardner’s Holiday Table" is at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 280 the Fenway, November 25 through January 11, with a gallery talk on "Isabella As Hostess" by Gardner Museum archivist and collections manager Kristin Parker on December 10 at noon; call (617) 278-5166.
|
