The Creative Process of William Kentridge

From this past Tuesday, October 22, you can visit the temporary exhibition of the renowned South African artist William Kentridge (Johannesburg, 1955) at the Sorigué Foundation in Lleida. The exhibition presents for the first time all of the artist's most iconic works that the Foundation has in its collection and focuses, above all, on Kentridge's creative process. The exhibition, entitled 'William Kentridge, Fundació Sorigué', is complemented by works lent by the artist's studio, moved especially for this occasion from Johannesburg, his city of residence.

The exhibition reflects Kentridge's preoccupation with themes such as repression and injustice as he explores, through his creations, South Africa's complex history and, more broadly, the nature of human emotion and memory. The guiding thread of the exhibition is the artist's creative process, which reflects on the act of creating, raising questions about permanence and ephemerality. Drawing plays an essential role in his work, offering various perspectives of his production. Importantly, Kentridge never follows a script, as for him everything is transitory, fluid and uncertain.

In this exhibition, the set of animated videos made up of '7 Fragments for Georges Méliès', 'Journey to the Moon' and 'Day for Night', which exemplify the visual language of the artist, is presented in its entirety. Inspired by film pioneer Georges Méliès, Kentridge reflects on the creative process in his studio and his own artistic identity. In addition, the exhibition includes the series of four large-scale drawings entitled 'Middle Aged Love', a characteristic representation in Kentridge's work.

Also on display is the video and several drawings used in the production 'Tide Table', part of the 'Drawings for Projection' project, a series of films and drawings started in 1989 and produced over more than thirty years.

'More Sweetly Play The Dance' in Planta

In parallel, the large installation 'More Sweetly Play the Dance' is permanently exhibited in Planta, the project of the Sorigué Foundation located in Balaguer. This Kentridge masterpiece recreates a grand procession or demonstration that dances through life's adversities. The exhibition includes some of the silhouettes used by Kentridge, coming directly from his studio. This monumental video installation, almost forty meters long, will also be exhibited at the Picasso Museum in Malaga as a guest work from November 21 to April 20, 2025.

On floor 0 of the Sorigué Foundation, the 'Middle Aged Love' series stands out, composed of four life-size drawings made with charcoal and turpentine on paper. In the next room, Kentridge's last major project, 'Self-Portrait as a Coffee Pot', presented at the 2024 Venice Biennale, is projected. This work, on loan from the artist, focuses on the self-portrait, where the artist tries to draw himself while his double watches from a distance.

Also on display is the artist's book 'Tummelplatz', on loan from Ivory Press, and the piece 'Head (Man)', a stainless steel sculpture reminiscent of Kentridge's figure with his characteristic hat. On the -1 floor, you can see 'Ulysse: Tiro Scan, Slide, Bottle', a triple video projection lent by the MACBA Foundation, which combines drawings inspired by anatomical engravings from the 16th and 17th centuries with ultrasound images and magnetic resonances.

William Kentridge, art and historical memory

The son of anti-apartheid lawyers, Kentridge explores South Africa's complex history and, more broadly, human emotions and memory. Kentridge's art is deeply rooted in South Africa, where he continues to live and produce his work. He is considered a key figure in the recovery of the historical memory of his country, still marked by the colonial past and racial segregation.

For its part, the Sorigué Foundation has been building one of the most recognized private collections of contemporary art in Spain since 2000. Currently, it is composed of more than 450 works by prominent national and international artists, including Anselm Kiefer, William Kentridge, Bill Viola, Juan Muñoz, Oscar Muñoz, Mat Collishaw, Chuck Close, Anish Kapoor, Antonio López, Daniel Richter , Cristina Iglesias, Antony Gormely, Julie Mehretu, among others.