The Australian Centre for the Moving Image presents a landmark exhibition "William Kentridge: Five Themes", celebrating the work of one of the world's leading contemporary artists and filmmakers.
After premiering at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and travelling to New York, Paris, Vienna, Jerusalem and Moscow, this stunning exhibition comes to the ACMI for an exclusive Australian season.
Born in 1955 in South Africa, William Kentridge rose to prominence as an artist and animator, winning international acclaim for his stop motion films of charcoal drawings. Melancholic and magical, his work is strongly tied to the social and political environment of his home country in the pre- and post-Apartheid era.
Tackling issues of colonial oppression, reconciliation and the transient nature of memory, Kentridge deftly combines the political with the poetic in work that spans various art-forms, from visual art to theatre to the moving image. Inspired by European literature, classical music, opera, plays and early cinema, Kentridge uses archetypal characters to build whimsical, poignant and playful narratives.
"William Kentridge: Five Themes" features over 60 works ranging from animations, drawings and prints to theatre models, sculptures and books. This unmissable survey of a phenomenal artistic talent explores the five key themes of his career, including his direction of The Magic Flute for the renowned Belgian opera house, La Monnaie, and the animated films developed for a 2010 production of The Nose at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.