Eight Vessels

“Eight Vessels” is a new photogravure by William Kentridge. The work consists of four sheets of paper, each with etching, arranged and overlapped to form a single image that is then hand-painted and pinned together to create the work. “Eight Vessels” stems from Kentridge’s recent investigations of the still life form that came as a result of the COVID-induced lockdown in South Africa starting in March, 2020. Kentridge, like many, was in the unusual situation of being isolated in his studio. This isolation led to a sustained investigation into the significance of meaning, making, and working process in a studio. Thus began what became “Studio Life.”

Inspired by the everyday objects around him and by the painter, Giorgio Morandi, Kentridge created enlarged objects in his home studio and began arranging them on a table as subjects to be drawn. His still life included water jugs, vases, an ink tin and a bottle of whiskey. This still life originally existed as foam core & paper cut-outs in an investigative performance “(Still Life Sculpture)” for “The Long Minute” and then as a charcoal drawing, “Drawing for Studio Life (Still Life with Black Jug I ),” which was then photographed and translated into a new series of stop-animation films included in “Studio Life: A Natural History of the Studio” and lastly, as the “Eight Vessels” photogravure print.

“Eight Vessels” is a new photogravure by William Kentridge. The work consists of four sheets of paper, each with etching, arranged and overlapped to form a single image that is then hand-painted and pinned together to create the work. “Eight Vessels” stems from Kentridge’s recent investigations of the still life form that came as a result of the COVID-induced lockdown in South Africa starting in March, 2020. Kentridge, like many, was in the unusual situation of being isolated in his studio. This isolation led to a sustained investigation into the significance of meaning, making, and working process in a studio. Thus began what became “Studio Life.”

Inspired by the everyday objects around him and by the painter, Giorgio Morandi, Kentridge created enlarged objects in his home studio and began arranging them on a table as subjects to be drawn. His still life included water jugs, vases, an ink tin and a bottle of whiskey. This still life originally existed as foam core & paper cut-outs in an investigative performance “(Still Life Sculpture)” for “The Long Minute” and then as a charcoal drawing, “Drawing for Studio Life (Still Life with Black Jug I ),” which was then photographed and translated into a new series of stop-animation films included in “Studio Life: A Natural History of the Studio” and lastly, as the “Eight Vessels” photogravure print.

“Eight Vessels” is a new photogravure by William Kentridge. The work consists of four sheets of paper, each with etching, arranged and overlapped to form a single image that is then hand-painted and pinned together to create the work. “Eight Vessels” stems from Kentridge’s recent investigations of the still life form that came as a result of the COVID-induced lockdown in South Africa starting in March, 2020. Kentridge, like many, was in the unusual situation of being isolated in his studio. This isolation led to a sustained investigation into the significance of meaning, making, and working process in a studio. Thus began what became “Studio Life.”

Inspired by the everyday objects around him and by the painter, Giorgio Morandi, Kentridge created enlarged objects in his home studio and began arranging them on a table as subjects to be drawn. His still life included water jugs, vases, an ink tin and a bottle of whiskey. This still life originally existed as foam core & paper cut-outs in an investigative performance “(Still Life Sculpture)” for “The Long Minute” and then as a charcoal drawing, “Drawing for Studio Life (Still Life with Black Jug I ),” which was then photographed and translated into a new series of stop-animation films included in “Studio Life: A Natural History of the Studio” and lastly, as the “Eight Vessels” photogravure print.

“Eight Vessels” is a new photogravure by William Kentridge. The work consists of four sheets of paper, each with etching, arranged and overlapped to form a single image that is then hand-painted and pinned together to create the work. “Eight Vessels” stems from Kentridge’s recent investigations of the still life form that came as a result of the COVID-induced lockdown in South Africa starting in March, 2020. Kentridge, like many, was in the unusual situation of being isolated in his studio. This isolation led to a sustained investigation into the significance of meaning, making, and working process in a studio. Thus began what became “Studio Life.”

Inspired by the everyday objects around him and by the painter, Giorgio Morandi, Kentridge created enlarged objects in his home studio and began arranging them on a table as subjects to be drawn. His still life included water jugs, vases, an ink tin and a bottle of whiskey. This still life originally existed as foam core & paper cut-outs in an investigative performance “(Still Life Sculpture)” for “The Long Minute” and then as a charcoal drawing, “Drawing for Studio Life (Still Life with Black Jug I ),” which was then photographed and translated into a new series of stop-animation films included in “Studio Life: A Natural History of the Studio” and lastly, as the “Eight Vessels” photogravure print.