William Kentridge

Entrancing exhibition at the Royal Academy of work by William Kentridge and curated by him.

The works originate from exquisite drawings but then Kentridge does wonderful things with them from animations to making tapestries, designing operas to huge pictures of flower arrangements. It’s varied but you can tell it all comes from the same artistic mind.

I loved the videos and particularly liked the most recent one “Deep City” which seemed to depict a decaying art gallery. It was beautifully shown in a cork lined room with four videos showing in  large format but the sound was cleverly managed so they didn’t conflict. There was a super room of tapestries which were based on collages of drawings on old maps.

All the interiors were beautiful, subtly altering the familiar space. The commentaries were excellent not only pointing out the depth of meaning in some of the works but also pointing out the techniques used. There was a real sense of craftsmanship and of the substance of the pieces.

I may need to go again to soak it all in.

Closes 11 December 2022


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