This episode, we are thrilled to be joined by the artist William Kentridge.

Born in 1955 in Johannesburg, South Africa - a city where he also now lives and works - William grew up under the pall of Apartheid. This experience deeply informs his practice, which frequently questions the historical record and examines the inequities and absurdities of our world.

Working across multiple media, he combines drawing, writing, film, performance, and other collaborative practices to create works of art that are grounded in history, yet maintain a space for contradiction and uncertainty.

In one of his now-signature techniques, William photographs his charcoal drawings and paper collages over time, recording scenes as they evolve. Working without a script or storyboard, he plots out each animated film, preserving every addition and erasure. 

This is visible, for instance, in the series Self Portrait as a Coffee Pot, which William launched on the online streaming service MUBI last year. In this nine-part series, he opens the doors to his Johannesburg studio to lay bare his creative process, reflecting on culture, history, and political memory as he does so.

William’s genre defying talents have also led him to create operas and theatrical productions since the 1990s. Of his many productions, we’ve been lucky to see a few, including his 2010 production for the Metropolitan Opera of Shostakovich’s The Nose, as well as his 2023 production in Paris of "Waiting for the Sibyl."

William’s work has been exhibited in museums around the world, including the MoMA in New York, the Albertina in Vienna, the Louvre in Paris, and the Royal Academy of Arts in London, among many others. He is also, of course, in the collections of major museums across the globe. 

Most recently, here in New York, William presented a solo exhibition at Hauser and Wirth titled, “A Natural History of the Studio.”

William is represented by Hauser and Wirth and Goodman Gallery

https://www.hauserwirth.com/artists/william-kentridge/

https://goodman-gallery.com/artists/william-kentridge

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Some artists discussed in this episode

• Henri Matisse
• Alberto Giacometti
• Jackson Pollock
• Jacques Lecoq