03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
In ‘A Natural History of the Studio,' Many William Kentridges Add Up to One
William Kentridge, the renowned South African artist, began to film himself in his studio during the coronavirus pandemic while he meditated on the practice of self-portraiture. Although he set out to examine the workings of the studio space and how it relates to the production of art, every image seemed to end with a painting of himself as a coffeepot.
The result was 'Self-Portrait as a Coffee-Pot,' a nine-part film series. These episodes, now on the streaming service Mubi, are part of 'A Natural History of the Studio,' Kentridge's first show with Hauser & Wirth in New York. All the drawings from the film series — more than 70 — are present for the first time in a single exhibition, alongside new sculptures. They combine into an effusive repertoire: an artist's study of his disparate selves, and the materiality of his forms.
The drawings follow Kentridge's recognizable use of charcoal, pastel and colored pencils, usually in the form of a collage on dry paper. Phrases he gathers from his favorite books adorn some of the paintings, like heavy drooping earrings. This effect is most embodied in 'Drawing for Self-Portrait as a Coffee-Pot (The Moment Has Gone),' a 2020 piece depicting a tree with phrases across the work, like, 'You will be dreamt a jackal.'
In 'Drawing for Self-Portrait as a Coffee-Pot (Self-Portrait, Crouching),' 2020, a stunning render of himself, the artist is slightly bent forward. It is unclear if he is naked (although he is surely wearing a wristwatch), but his age — he is 70 now — is apparent in the small folds on his head, his back, the quiet protrusion of his belly, a tender rendering of oneself.
Kentridge's explorations of the human self can result in multiple insights, and contradictions. Often in his video series multiple Kentridges or doppelgängers argue and disagree on ideas, methods and even memories. (These videos are influenced by his engagement with the world of theater, and at the Hauser & Wirth show they are displayed in a corner of the gallery emulating his studio.) Because the artist draws mostly with charcoal, the notions of erasure, overwriting and haziness in the paintings are heightened, making it plausible to debate and even dispute everything.
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