William Kentridge is a big art deal. Growing up Jewish in Johannesburg with parents who were active anti-apartheid attorneys, his is a unique insight on the world. This lends a haunting, gossamer touch to his illustration and animation work – which more often than not is propelled by themes of violence, oppression and human horror. Particularly impressive are his animations, black-and-white drawings which are filmed, then partly erased, with new lines drawn for the next cel. It’s a painstaking process that pays off, as the results have an aching, visceral intimacy.
For these reasons it comes as a disappointment that this not-insignificant show of his work is largely lukewarm. The main attraction is a new series of extremely huge ink drawings of flowers on found Chinese texts that bear slogans such as the Maoists’ famous dictum, ‘Let a hundred flowers bloom…’, while smaller pieces, red painted words on found text, hint at the supreme sloganeering of the Paris Commune and the 1968 student protests – ‘Stop Reading Old Words’. For such an established artist these works feel crude in their sentiment and execution. So too does the installation film ‘Notes towards a Model Opera’ inspired by Madame Mao’s Eight Model Revolutionary Operas – about the only ‘pop’ culture allowed in China during her husband’s dictatorship.
Upstairs is a different story. It’s here that the 40-foot ‘frieze’ film ‘More Sweetly Play the Dance’ is being shown across the walls of the room. Featuring a slow progression of shadowy figures walking to a haunting tune played by a brass brand, this immersive danse macabre includes skeletons, generals being pulled along on platforms by bent-over women, dancers in traditional African dress, people on medical drips and a religious procession. All of which hint at the human and natural crises that force people to flee their homes and walk long distances: hunger, floods, poverty, war. The figures are alarmingly 3D, with flashes of colour rising off them and infiltrating Kentridge’s otherwise monochrome world. The effect is stunning in its sights and sounds – and in its humanity. The rest of the show may be so-so but you have to see this film. Just walk right in and up the stairs.
Ananda Pellerin