William Kentridge seems to be a very unlikely candidate for the world of art being the son of two lawyers but he has been able to develop a process which allows the unconscious mind of him and his collaborators to yell out amongst the other layers of his complex artwork. I see a lot of myself In William and I enjoy his thoughts on how to view artwork and how to view life itself. He sees life as it truly is continual processes that may not seem to have any meaning until connections are drawn between them and he also states many times throughout the documentary how these processes don’t seem to make sense until after the fact. This is why he always leaves room in all of his artwork for this unconscious, outside hand to run its course. He understands that in art and in life to much uniformity can subtract from the actual realism of a subject even though he is a very process oriented artist. He somehow finds a way to get lost in the process instead of allowing the web of procedures to overtake him and drown out his subconscious thought. This could have something to do with the way he was raised or just the wiring of his brain but I found it fascinating that his mind works in this manner because I too find that I do my best work while multi tasking and distracting the process driven part of my brain so that my creative subconscious may run rampant.
William lays out the duality of life better than most great theologians and understands that both good and bad are prevalent aspects that are interwoven throughout every person’s life. He bears witness to this duality with in the process of his art making which he states is a way of obtaining knowledge but not in a conventional or rational manner such as that of law. The free state in which his art exists is the thin line that separates his work from that of pure analysis and allows it to enter the realm of art. This line acts as a membrane in which only art may pass through while trapping all other substances political points of view, emotions, violence, opinions, may all be part of his work and his process but something more is derived from the original materials than just their immediate meanings. He does not break onto the scene as if he knows everything but he uses what he knows and the process of creating the art to teach him new methods and this actually in turn has away of steering the art in the direction in which its heading towards its logical destination.
No comments:
Post a Comment