William Kentridge, Leonard Baskin and Marlene Dumas

Someone told me that I might like the artist & film-maker William Kentridge. He was born in South Africa and is mainly known for his animated films but he also does these expressive, often large-scale ink and charcoal drawings. The images seem very emotional and also a bit surreal and existential which I like, especially when they're accompanied by text. I also appreciate how they invite you to reflect on what's happening as they imply a narrative without giving anything away. I need to start experimenting more with my mark-maing, maybe with some washes or different media & also looking at text in the same way I draw.

I have also been looking at Leonard Baskin this semester too. He was primarily a sculptor but his illustrations and prints are wonderfully weird and dark too. They seem to have so many levels of meaning without explicitly saying anything.

Finally, I also went to the Marlene Dumas exhibition at the Tate Modern a few weeks ago. Her works are so emotionally charged and expressive it was amazing. It was also refreshing to see some ink drawings on such a large scale. So inspiring. I also enjoyed how almost each work was accompanied by her writings on art and life which were very poetic and helped to elevate the art to new levels of meaning and reflection. I didn't know that an exhibition could be so emotional.