Hollis Daniels- Post on Kentridge

William Kentridge is notorious for his animated films using drawings to create an abstract and interesting videos. He erases objects in the videos to make them more captivating and unique. The videos are cool because they are so life-like, but all drawn.  Kentridge videos and films are highly influenced by political and social issues, he also randomly includes his self-portrait in his movies. Kentridge goes through a unique process to produce his films. He introduced succesive charcoal drawings , which are always stay on one sheet of paper. Kentridge just keeps tracing on his previous drawings, building up his videos with past actions on one sheet. Kentridge is now one of South America's best artists, he has produced extraordinary films that are meaningful with just charcoal. In his films, he has two major characters, Soho Eckstein and Felix Teitlebaum, both of them represent various aspects of emotional and political struggle.  He has reasons why he never uses a new sheet of paper, which is quite interesting. He never used a new sheet of paper because he believed that one should paint over the old, and keep changing things until it is correct, and stick with the same sheet, no matter how many mistakes, and keep correcting until things finally come together. This is a metaphor for the struggles and lifestyles of people who lived in South Africa at the time.  Kentridge is known for his films like " Felix in Exile", " Monument", "Johannesburg: 2nd Greatest City after Paris", and many more. Kentridge quotes," My drawings don't start with a 'beautiful mark', It has to be a mark of something out there in the world. It doesn't have to be an accurate drawing, but it has to stand for an observation, not something that is abstract, like an emotion." I personally think it is incredible how Kentridge uses charcoal and a handful of some paints to create such a moving and meaningful piece of artwork, that represents so much in South African culture and society.