The Agency of Making...

 

I recently wandered into an art gallery in Chelsea, NYC, and to my surprise, encountered a meticulous recreation of William Kentridge's studio. Among the works was a stop-motion animation, filmed with an 8mm camera, depicting the evolving portrait of a coffee pot. The animation subtly reinforced the analogue, tactile nature of Kentridge’s practice—rooted in process exploration and object intrigue.

Kentridge once said that drawing is “a testing of ideas through the hand.” His trees seem to test the boundary between representation and abstraction. They also echo his larger interest in process—they are not hyper realistic depictions, but meditations on form, memory, and time.