Among the elements explored in Art21′s William Kentridge: Anything is Possible, the film looks at his many influences, from his personal background to his love of the performing arts. What better way to celebrate the film than to dedicate the topic of the next Flash Points to the subject of Influence and the various forms this can take in an artist’s work?

Our particular backgrounds shape how we interpret the world around us.  Kentridge says in the film, “I think there has to be a fundamental insistence of having to leave a kind of snail trail behind of who one is and what one’s been.”  For him, this consists of a country dealing with the effects and aftermath of apartheid, the legacy of which is steeped in his art.  His hometown of Johannesburg and the political climate of South Africa make appearances throughout, as does the artist himself, specifically in the physical resemblance of his two main characters, Soho and Felix.  His work is imbued with a sense of self.  Similarly, in addition to Kentridge, artists such as Sally Mann or Louise Bourgeois are strongly influenced by their family and backgrounds, drawing from these experiences to shape their work.  As Ms. Bourgeois stated, “My childhood has never lost its magic, it has never lost its mystery, and it has never lost its drama.”

A scene from William Kentridge's production of "The Magic Flute," the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Photo by Julien Jourdes for The New York Times.

Beyond the cultural and personal, we’ll look at how other forms of art and artists themselves can be great sources of inspiration. In Kentridge’s case, his artistic perspective was influenced by his art historical predecessors.  Russian modernists Kazimir Malevich and Vladimir Tatlin shaped his definition of political art, and references to Picasso, Beuys, and Goya (to name a few) can be found in his work, 7 Fragments for Georges Melies. Kentridge is heavily influenced by other art forms as well, merging the performing, literary, and visual arts in projects such as The Nose, his interpretation of Dmitri Shostakovich’s opera, which is based on the short story by Nikolai Gogol.  Involvement with the performing arts was a childhood dream of his, and “this was the closest I’ve got back to [my] early ambition of working with opera.” Artists such as Bill Viola or Laurie Anderson work in a similar vein, engaging in projects that bridge the gap between the performing and visual arts, creating an artistic hybrid that’s mutually influenced by these  worlds.

Kentridge’s love of the stage was fostered by early theatrical and mime classes in Paris, forever shaping his work as an artist.  We’ll explore the role that institutions play in an artist’s growth, from the courses and mentorships fostered in art school, to the relationships developed during the exhibition process with a museum or gallery, and how these affect the evolution of the project.

There are myriad influences on how an artist approaches his or her creative process. Here are a few of the questions we’ll be addressing over the coming months. We’d love to hear your own thoughts and ideas in the comments below:

• What is the impact of outside influences on an artist’s work?
• How does an artist’s background inform his or her work, and how does our experience as a viewer inform our understanding of it?
• What kind of impact do art education programs or mentorships have on an artist?
• How are artists influenced by each other or by other forms of art?
• How do institutions play a role in an artist’s development?

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In celebration of Art21′s new feature film William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible — which premiered nationally on October 21, 2010 and will continue to air on PBS (check local listings) — the Exclusive series is devoting the month of October to telling stories about Kentridge’s numerous artistic collaborators whom we’ve had the distinct privilege of meeting these past few years. This is the fifth of six episodes.

Episode #126: Anne McIlleron, William Kentridge’s studio manager, discusses the artist’s working method and penchant for collaboration. Featuring behind-the-scenes moments from the artist’s studio in Johannesburg, South Africa; a performance of I am not me, the horse is not mine (2008) at the 16th Biennale of Sydney, Australia; and rehearsals for Kentridge’s production of The Nose (2010) at The Metropolitan Opera, New York.

Having witnessed first-hand one of the twentieth century’s most contentious struggles—the dissolution of apartheid—William Kentridge brings the ambiguity and subtlety of personal experience to public subjects most often framed in narrowly defined terms. Using film, drawing, sculpture, animation, and performance, he transmutes sobering political events into powerful poetic allegories. Aware of myriad ways in which we construct the world by looking, Kentridge often uses optical illusions to extend his drawings-in-time into three dimensions.

William Kentridge is featured in the Season 5 (2009) episode Compassion of the Art in the Twenty-First Century television series and the Art21 special, William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible (2010), both on PBS. Watch full episodes online for free via PBS Video or Hulu, as a paid download via iTunes (link opens application), or as part of a Netflix streaming subscription.

VIDEO | Producer: Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview: Susan Sollins. Camera: Philipe Charlut, Robert Elfstrom & Joel Shapiro. Sound: Ray Day, Patrick Mullins & Roger Phenix. Editor: Mary Ann Toman. Artwork Courtesy: William Kentridge. Special Thanks: Anne McIlleron, The Biennale of Sydney & The Metropolitan Opera, New York. © 2010 Art21, Inc.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

William Kentridge. Drawing for the film "Johannesburg, 2nd Greatest City after Paris," 1989. Charcoal on paper; 37 4/5 x 59 2/5 in. Copyright and courtesy of William Kentridge.

Our new Flash Points topic, Influence, will be launching soon and we’re inviting you to participate!

An artist’s work can be influenced by a myriad of sources — family history, cultural background, social relationships, world events, education…the list is practically endless.  As William Kentridge stated, “We approach the outside world very much in terms of what is happening inside us.”  His work draws greatly from his own experiences, from his South African culture and family environment, to the theatrical lessons he took early in his career in Paris.  To coincide with Art21′s new film, William Kentridge: Anything is Possible, we’ll explore the many types of influence in art.

A few of the questions we’ll focus on include:

• What is the impact of outside influences on an artist’s work?
• How does an artist’s background inform his/her work, and how does our status as a viewer inform our understanding of it?
• What kind of impact do art education programs or mentorships have on an artist?
• How are artists influenced by each other or by other forms of art?
• How do institutions play a role in an artist’s development?

We are eager to hear from a range of perspectives, including those of you who work as artists, arts professionals, students, art educators, funders, organizers, and academics. Propose a Flash Points blog post related to the above topic and have a chance to be featured on this site. Email ideas and pitches to blog [at] art21 [dot] org.

We have a special treat for anyone that was unable to catch last week’s broadcast of William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible. The full program is now available for immediate online viewing by way of the PBS Video portal. Whether you’re watching it for the first time, watching it again at your convenience, or using it in a classroom setting, we are pleased to make the entire program available for all viewers.

Watch the full, hour-long program on the film site or over at PBS Video.

Educators’ Guide and Screening Companion

On the subject of “classroom settings,” we are also very excited to announce the release of the film’s educators’ guide and screening companion, available for download immediately in PDF format. This 22-page guide offers suggestions for facilitating discussions and activities, as well as screening the film with classroom and community audiences.

The film and guide explore topics relevant to studio art, art history, and the humanities, as well as themes central to his artistic practice, including: the role of the artist in society; narrative and storytelling; personal and social histories; process and play; and collaboration. We encourage educators and event organizers to learn more about these topics and to connect them with related discussion questions, activities, and screening ideas.

Warm up your televisions and set your DVRs: Art21′s latest film, William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible, premieres on PBS this week. The national broadcast premiere is scheduled for October 21 at 10:00 p.m., though broadcast times vary by region (for example, the New York broadcast time is Wednesday, October 20, at 10:00 p.m.). Please remember to check your local listings to find out when the program will air on your local PBS station.

Join Art21 on Twitter tonight as we share moments live from the New York premiere at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Previews, Exclusives, and More
Visit the film site to view preview clips from the broadcast film, as well as special Exclusive videos, featuring moments and interviews not included in the broadcast film. Also available are thematic image slideshows, featuring exclusive production stills and images of artwork paired with quotes from the artist.

Screenings Across the Country
Preview screenings of William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible continue this week and throughout October at select venues across the country. Screening hosts represent a broad range of organizations and institutions. Visit the film site to find a preview screening near you.

Educators’ Guide and Screening Companion
A free 26-page educators’ guide and screening companion has been produced to accompany the film. The guide is designed for use in a wide range of cultural and educational institutions, and is available for download from the film site later this week.

Support Art21′s Educational Initiatives
Art21 is pleased to offer educators and their students a number of resources specifically designed to accompany William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible. These materials explore various facets of Kentridge’s work and offer suggestions for facilitating discussions and activities, as well as screening the film with classroom and community audiences. Help Art21 provide free resources for educators by joining Art21′s Back to School campaign.

DVD Pre-order
The William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible DVD will be released through PBS Home Video on October 21. Pre-order the film from ShopPBS and receive 20% off this and other Art21 titles. Visit ShopPBS for more information.

Elizabeth Murray, "Landing, 1999." Photo: Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art.

In this week’s roundup Elizabeth Murray lands, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle and Jessica Stockholder speak, Mark Bradford and Paul McCarthy highlight L.A., and more.

• Don’t forget to mark your calendars to view William Kentridge: Anything is Possible about the life and work of South African artist William Kentridge on October 21!  Check your local PBS listings for times.

• A Nancy Spero retrospective will soon be at the Centre Pompidou (Paris).   The exhibition will feature her monumental masterpiece Azur and is on view October 13 – January 10, 2011.

• Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle highlights his recent work about natural and constructed phenomena, including climate change as part of a lecture on Tuesday, October 12 at the Kellen Auditorium, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, Parsons The New School for Design.  The event is 6pm – 7pm and admission is free.

• Mark Bradford has a solo exhibition at the White Cube Hoxton Square (UK) which features the artist’s painting, collage, sculpture, film, and performance.  The Pistol That Whistles explores ever-changing conditions and spontaneous networks in urban societies, e.g. Los Angeles.  The exhibit is on view October 13 – November 13, 2010.

Continue reading »

Art21 announces our new William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible Back to School Campaign, designed to raise funds to support free resources for educators. By giving as little as $5, $15, or $25, you can support the delivery of education resources to teachers around the world as part of our eight-week focus on education programs accompanying the release of William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible, our new feature film.

Since 2001, Art21 has explored innovative ways to bring contemporary art into the classroom, providing tools and resources for educators, and public programs for students of all ages. These efforts have led to the development of numerous projects including free screenings across the U.S., a national institute for educators, professional development workshops, and the distribution of over 150,000 free Art21 Educators’ Guides to teachers worldwide.

For William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible, Art21 is developing new workshops, an Educators’ Guide and Screening Guide, as well as web-based resources including short-format online films. These resources offer support for teachers covering multiple themes and humanities subjects, including materials that focus on the literary and musical aspects of Kentridge’s work and process.

“William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible provides an incredible opportunity to delve deeper into the methods and motivations that drive artists today. The breadth of Kentridge’s artistic practice, the scope of the footage included in the film, and the complementary resources we have developed to further illuminate his work and process will support teachers working not only in the visual arts, theater and music, but also the humanities, language arts and social studies.” – Jessica Hamlin, Director of Education and Public Programs

A little goes a long way with your BACK TO SCHOOL donation.

• $5 will help cover the costs of supporting Art21′s free screening programs in cities nationwide.
• $15 will contribute to the editing and design costs of the William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible Educators’ Guide
• $25 will help send a DVD of William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible to a deserving teacher, to complement the Educators’ Guide.

Thank you for supporting Art21! The film premieres nationally on PBS October 21, 2010 at 10 p.m. ET (check local listings).

William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible Film Site

Production still from the film William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible. © Art21, Inc., 2010.

The PBS broadcast premiere of Art21′s latest film, William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible, is just over a week away, and we want you to join us in celebrating.

Art21 is giving away FIVE pairs of tickets to the invite-only New York City premiere of the film, taking place on Monday, October 18 at the Museum of Modern Art. For readers not in the New York City area, we are also giving away FIVE copies of the William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible DVD (shipping at the end of October). The deadline for entry has just been extended to Tuesday, October 12, 11:59 p.m. ET, so be sure to throw your name in the hat before the drawing closes.

Visit the film site to enter the drawing and to view related videos, images, and more.

There are also other opportunties to win tickets and DVDs. Additional drawings are being held at Hyperallergic, Artlog, and Thirteen/WNET. Visit their sites for more information.

Best of luck to everyone, and be sure to tune in to the national PBS broadcast premiere on October 21 at 10:00 p.m. ET (check local listings on pbs.org).

William Kentridge’s drawing from Stereoscope 1998–99. Courtesy of MoMA. Copyright 2010- William Kentridge

There are many reasons to teach with the art of William Kentridge, and as we get closer to the premiere of Art21′s new film, William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible, airing on PBS October 21st, I thought I might take a moment to highlight why we should consider his diverse work and how it may fit into very different teaching scenarios.

For educators interested in questions about the history of South Africa, apartheid, violence and segregation, Kentridge is a natural choice. Kentridge’s films and drawings deal with his first-hand experience witnessing the dissolution of apartheid. Much like artists such as Kara Walker, Krzysztof Wodiczko and Nancy Spero, his work allows viewers to actually re-see violence and particular human struggles in ways a history book cannot share or even begin to evoke.

But Kentridge’s work is not all about history or his personal experience living in South Africa. His work also involves questions around what it means to actually be an artist. While Tim Hawkinson, Elizabeth Murray, Barry McGee and even Mark Dion discuss this topic in their own Art21 segments, William Kentridge is particularly blunt in his explanation when it comes to how he got where he is today. To make things even more appealing, he often takes us into his studio to see his process and experience how he thinks as an artist.

A third reason to consider Kentridge is certainly the fact that play has such a central role in creating beautiful and sometimes very critical work. While Oliver Herring and Cai Guo-Qiang may take very different approaches to play as a vehicle for making art, again, Kentridge makes the reasons and sequence visible for all of us.

Tune in to experience William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible on October 21st at 10pm (ET) on PBS. And stay tuned for information about downloading the brand new Educator Guide for the film, too!

Monica Majoli, "Hanging Rubberman #1," 2006. Watercolor and gouache on paper, 123 x 51 in. Photo: Brian Forrest. Image via hammer.ucla.edu

Last week, Art21 treated Angelenos to the very first preview screening of William Kentridge: Anything is Possible at the Hammer Museum‘s Billy Wilder Theater.  As Art21′s executive director Susan Sollins noted in her opening remarks, the Hammer was an ideal host, as the two organizations share a common vision.  With innovative programming and impeccable curatorial focus, the Hammer has emerged, in recent years, as a leading supporter of 21st-century art.

Beginning in 2005, the Hammer Museum launched an initiative to build a strong permanent collection of contemporary art.  The current exhibition of 42 works, Selections from the Hammer Contemporary Collection, emphasizes depth as well as breadth, highlighting many artists who have been featured in previous Hammer exhibitions.  Indeed, there is notable overlap with the Hammer’s celebrated 2007 invitational exhibition, Eden’s Edge, with standouts such as Elliott Hundley, Mark Bradford (Season 4), and Monica Majoli.  Of course we all know that the world has changed drastically in the past three years, and while the work in Eden had dark undertones, the vibe of the current Hammer exhibition is much closer to Revelation than Genesis.

Installation view from "Selections from the Hammer Contemporary Collection." Photo: Brian Forrest. From left to right: Ken Price, "Dream Balls," 2001; Elliott Hundley, "Pentheus," 2009; Evan Holloway, "35-39," 2007; Kristen Morgin, "Untitled (Scooters)"; Mark Grotjahn, "Untitled (Color Butterfly 10 Wings)," 2004; and Kara Walker, "Every Painting Is a Dead Nigger Waiting to Be Born," 2009. Via hammer.ucla.edu

In the second season of Art:21, Kara Walker characterizes the antebellum imagery in her work as an “illusion that [the work] is about past events.  I tend to approach the complexities of my own life by distancing myself and finding a parallel in something prettier and more gentile, like the picture of the old South….”

Presented in Los Angeles for the first time, Walker’s suite of 20 gouache on paper works, entitled Every Painting is a Dead Nigger Waiting to Be Born (2009), boldly removes any of the aforementioned illusions of prettiness, presumably imploding the distance between Walker and the content of the work.  Rather than shadowlike imagery, Walker leaves the viewer with a grouping of bold phrases, each scrawled on (mostly) abstract fields. Thickly painted letters reading “GO ANYWHERE SAY ANYTHING” are countered by a subtle footnote of smaller, almost spectral words: “WITHIN THE LIMITS OF OUR SHARED STRUGGLE.”   Still far from literal, the phrases tease the viewer into speculating about the limits of identity, creativity, and individuality—perhaps ultimately revealing more about the audience than Walker herself.  Dark humor scurries through other phrases and satirical titles of imagined red-tape organizations, such as the “BUREAU OF REVULSION FREEDOM FIGHTERS AND BOOTY CALLS.”  The only discernible imagery is a loosely painted field of dark tree trunks, set against a luminous field with the haunting phrase, “THEY BURNED UP FATHER’S HOUSE” hovering on the surface.  As disturbing as Walker’s silhouette scenes can be, the removal of those figures seems, in some sense, even more violent.  It feels as though Walker’s narrative has become too dark to illustrate, even with shadow figures.

Hirsch Perlman, "Operation Idiocracy, Roll 3, Frames 3/4," 2007, Chromogenic print, 56 x 63 in. (142.24 x 160 cm) framed. Image via hammer.ucla.edu

Adjacent to the Walker piece, Hirsch Perlman’s ominous photograph Operation Idiocracy Roll 3 Frames 3/4 greets viewers with a cadmium mushroom-shaped glow hovering in front of a glimmering nighttime cityscape.  While the shape is reminiscent of an atomic bomb, the floating red flash—created by moving lights in front of a long exposure—mines the ever-rich conflation of aesthetic pleasure and violence.

Around the corner, Jacob Yanes‘s delicate sculpture, Sara, occupies a similar space within that intersection.  Painstakingly crafted from cotton rice paper and papyrus, the female figure bears adult signifiers in her dress and proportions, but is slightly littler-than-life.  The figure’s posture is demure, slightly hunched with her hands held protectively in front of her hips.  Yanes was my classmate in the MFA program at UCLA, and in a recent email exchange about the piece, he described an overarching theme:

“A major concern in all my work is how individuals deal with exposure to violence (sexual and otherwise), and must translate that experience into their everyday lives, self-conception, relationships…”

Installation view from "Selections from the Hammer Contemporary Collection." From left to right: Elliott Hundley, "Pentheus," 2010; Monica Majoli, "Hanging Rubberman #1", 2006; Evan Holloway, "35 – 39," 2007; Jacob Yanes, "Sara," 2007; and Mark Grotjahn, "Untitled (Color Butterfly 10 Wings)," 2004. Photo: Brian Forrest. Image via hammer.ucla.edu

While Yanes’s focus is not solely on sexual violence, the intersection of brutality with eroticism, sex, and gender pops up throughout the show.  Monica Majoli’s Hanging Rubberman—from a decade-long series of works inspired by a specific underground fetish culture centered on rubber and asphyxiation—reads almost like an image of lynching, set wistfully against a background of misty mountains inspired by ancient Asian landscapes.  Hundley’s mammoth Pentheus, like many of his chaotically multidimensional collages, references Greek mythology.  In this case, the inspiration is Eurpides’ The Bacchae, in which Pentheus is killed and dismembered by his own mother.  The work itself involves Hundley doing what he does best — creating a chaotically intricate and erotically tumultuous scene of tiny bodies, letters, and images skewered like insects against a lush backdrop of magnified bodies.  Meanwhile, Paul Chan’s Sade for Sade’s Sake and Evan Holloway’s 35-39 both pit the abstract world of geometry and numbers against the pain and messiness of sexuality, procreation, and relationships. Part of a long series of 101 editioned sculptures, the Holloway piece is based on doomsday-esque theories about population growth, with each sculpture bearing the number of rods delegated by the digit in the title.  Each rod is punctuated by a small, crudely-formed face, and peppered with visceral silver droplets, reminiscent of breasts or testicles.  Like a giant industrial cactus, the work is at once disarmingly prickly and invitingly intricate.

Installation view from "Selections from the Hammer Contemporary Collection," July 3, 2010 – January 30, 2011, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Photo: Brian Forrest. From left to right: Evan Holloway, "35 – 39," 2007; Kristen Morgin, "Untitled (Scooters)"; and Llyn Foulkes, "Lucky Adam," 1985. Image via hammer.ucla.edu

While much of the art in Selections from the Hammer Contemporary Collection references violence and decay, each piece is tempered by a certain handmade quality that is intimate, nuanced, contemplative, and pleasurable.  In Anything is Possible, Kentridge discusses the notion that both optimistic and pessimistic ideas arrive simultaneously.  While dark leitmotifs permeate Selections, each artist also finds a way to imbue his or her work with pleasure, comedy, or even hope.