William Kentridge

Habits of creation: a thematic overview of Kentridge’s multimedia art. The South African artist William Kentridge Hon RA was born in Johannesburg in 1955 and lives and works there to this day. He is internationally renowned for the expressionism of his work in numerous media, among them charcoal, printmaking, sculpture and film, as well as his acclaimed theatrical and operatic productions. As elusive as it is allusive, Kentridge’s art is shaped by apartheid and grounded in the politics of the post-apartheid era, and in science, literature and history, while always maintaining space for contradiction and uncertainty. In a brilliant exposition of Kentridge’s output, Stephen Clingman undertakes a series of enquiries, of walks around the artist and his practice, through the various layers and linkages, crossings and connections of his art. As he proceeds, he considers Kentridge’s themes, explores them and proceeds by association to others. Along the way, overlaps, thought-collages, allusions and assemblages come together to create a connective, dimensional way of thinking inspired by Kentridge’s own habits of creation. AUTHOR: Stephen Clingman is Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. SELLING POINTS: . Created in close collaboration with the artist . Includes insightful new texts by a leading expert on Kentridge . Accompanies a major exhibition at The Royal Academy of Arts, 24 September - 11 December 2022 248 colour illustrations