If you go on Thursday nights the Museum is open until 8PM, and from 6-8 it is free.
William Kentridge is in NYC until 9/16/01.
After that the exhibition travels to the Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago)->
then Houston->then L.A. and then making a final stop in Cape Town,South
Africa.
Luckily, the New Museum is holding a retrospective of his work this summer. I was so thrilled to see the actual (huge) charcoal drawings on the wall that he works into his films. Through out the Museum are constant screenings of his ongoing series titled,"Drawings For Projection" tucked into various corners of the building,allowing enough room for you to actually enjoy them. For myself it was truly great to see work executed by someone who really knows how to draw too.
About three or so years ago I stumbled into the Drawing Room's project space(across the street from their main venue)to find a strange animated video playing. Usually my patience for video is pretty null (particularly when it's playing in galleries and your rapt attention is demanded)but these animated stories held my undivided attention for well over an hour.
I learned afterwards they were the animated charcoal drawings of South African artist William Kentridge. Changed and digitized frame by frame, the drawings morphed into many different things. A typewriter became a reoccurring character Felix,which became a landscape. The films were complete with sound effects, making for a haunting presentation. It is a beautiful idea, making 2 dimensional objects into 3 dimensional stories which are so well executed they do not feel gimmicky. I kept thinking about his work, but it is not seen often in the United States. Previous to the Drawing Center exhibit he had shown rarely in the United States partly due to the political climate in his country (which is a central theme in his narratives).
