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Old Books, New Stories
The texture of paper, William Kentridge, Chun Kwang Young and an old Venetian palazzo
One of the many things I enjoy about the artist William Kentridge is his re-purposing of old books into new artworks. He’s not interested in the subject matter or content of those old books but rather the quality of the paper. The older it is the better, he says, because it catches the charcoal he uses to draw his images in a particular way.
I talked in a previous post about the ‘palpable’ feeling of uncertainty that you get from looking at Kentridge’s short animated films. His process of drawing in charcoal, and then smudging it out, then redrawing, creates a visual effect that contributes to the way in which we interpret the artwork. The materials he uses, the type of paper and the charcoal, also contribute to that visual effect and to the way we respond to his work. Here’s Kentridge talking about the books he selects and the importance of paper texture:
Kentridge’s repurposing of old books has similarities with the work of the Korean artist Chun…
