At the end of a flight of stairs at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago are two perpendicular walls with black and white drawings. This exhibit that can be easily missed in anticipation of the others on the floor is History of the Main Complaint, the sixth in a series of works by William Kentridge and was created in 1996. This is just one of the several works that the MCA has on display as a part of their show, “Artists in Depth: Works from the MCA Collection”, another one being the Kara Walker’s show that was reviewed in the article posted on November 3rd, 2008.
The group of ten charcoal and paint on canvas are centered on the protagonist, Soho Eckstein who is a recurring character in Kentridge’s work and is seen in different locations: his office desk, on the road in his car and in a hospital bed. There is an element of confusion and disorientation in both the events of Soho’s life and for the viewer looking at the drawings. The random arrangement of the individual drawings in no chronological order is the cause for the confusion of the viewer and the confusion in Soho’s life is due to the apartheid in South Africa. This perplexity is soon dissolved, at least for the viewer.
What seem to be the main focus of the artwork, the drawings are only the raw materials for the making of the final product which is an approximately six minute short film. This film is screened in a small dark room that is entered through a narrow hallway and has a single row of chairs along one wall. The film puts together the story that is waiting to be told by the drawings of Soho Eckstein’s inward journey. It begins with him lying in comatose in a hospital bed, at first being inspected by one doctor and then ten. The physical inspection carried out by the doctors resonates his reflection of his life and emotions.
There are drawings and frames in movies that are almost absurd, for instance, the X- ray of his chest with a fax machine. This absurdity that is created by superimposing apparently unrelated things reveals a parallelism between his physical and emotional self and it seems as though the injury is almost completely emotional. His medical tests show that he is haunted by the bureaucratic nature of his life that once gave him power. He is also shown to be driving his car which is Kentridge expressing that Soho is responsible for worsening the condition of apartheid in South Africa by making capitalistic gains out of the situation. Soho also kills a black man on the road and drives on. The film ends with Eckstein back on his office desk and shows the little effort that industrialists have taken to better apartheid.
The film is archaic in the technique is uses. It is in only black and white, and was made by erasing and redrawing parts of the pictures, filming each picture for a short time frame to make an animation. The use of only black and white lends an organic quality to the drawings and highlights the theme of apartheid that the artist is focused on. The only colors that are used are red and blue toin the crosses red and it shows blood and injury. The technique employed to create the film allows the previous image to linger in the viewers mind for longer than it would otherwise. This layering of image after image makes it visually pleasing and less distracted from things other than the art itself. Layering effectively enables Kentridge to convey the layering of memory and past of the protagonist. Even if he wants to forget the past and attempts to forget it, it will be etched in his mind for a long time. The film engages more than just the visual sense. The melancholic music playing in the background interspersed with the telephone ringing and the sound of the adding machine makes the incident seem more distant yet more understandable.
While watching the film you are always aware of the process that Kentridge went through and you are able to appreciate the several hours that it took him to perfect a quarter of a second of the movie. His work is provocative yet subtle, not explicitly stating anything but implying a lot more than is shown. The simplicity of the work brings out the complexity of the theme and leaves you to ponder on the situation in South Africa. If this show had to be summarized and if it could be summarized, it is done most appropriately by the artist himself when he says that,
“I have never tried to make illustrations of apartheid, but the drawings and films are certainly spawned by and feed off the brutalized society left in its wake. I am interested in a political art that is to say an art of ambiguity, contradiction, uncompleted gestures, and uncertain endings; an art (and a politics) in which optimism is kept in check and nihilism at bay.”
– William Kentridge
This show that made its debut in Documenta X in 1997 is appreciated widely today, and for good reason. Time spent viewing this exhibition is definitely time well spent.
http://www.mcachicago.org/exhibitions/index.php
http://www.gregkucera.com/kentridge.htm
http://www.awn.com/mag/issue3.7/3.7pages/3.7moinskentridge.html
Ritu's Weblog 