William Kentridge - an artist of his time tackles universal themes

Since then Kentridge has earned a growing international reputation as one of the most interesting South African artists and his drawings can now fetch upwards of 250,000 euros apiece.

The exhibition is being held at the Jeu de Paume at the western end of the Tuileries Gardens.

The Jeu de Paume - what it is and how to find it The Jeu de Paume gallery TCY/Wikimedia The Jeu de Paume is not the Orangerie, although the two are next door to each other and can be easily confused. For the record, the Orangerie is home to Monet's gigantic water lilly paintings, the Jeu de Paume has temporary exhibitions. Even Parisians get mixed up, so if you really want to wind up the gallery staff, ask if you can have a one-day pass for the Louvre.  Needless to say, the Jeu de Paume is much smaller in scale than the Louvre.  As its name suggests, it once contained courts for the game jeu de paume, which was a kind of medieval version of tennis that has been played for almost a millennium. Players would have worn a leather glove on one hand to avoid getting blisters and, like tennis, it could be played in singles, doubles - but also triples and quadruples.  A latter-day version of the sport even has its own World Cup but that's another story.

The art work at the Jeu de Paume is usually second to none (OK, maybe apart from the Louvre) and the Kentridge exhibition is no exception.

 
It is split over two floors; the top floor for drawings, projections and a jumble of mixed media (collage, film, sculpture, set design) and the basement for a collection of what he calls "stop-motion" animations.
 
At first glance the drawings look like preparatory studies and in some ways they are. Kentridge's drawings are in a constant state of flux, never really reaching any kind of definitive conclusion. His stock in trade is charcoal on paper, largely monochrome with the odd dash of blue or red ink. There is a kind of freneticism about each drawing and a strong sense of narrative.
 
The fact that Kentridge is a white South African is not incidental to his work.  
 
He was born in 1955 in Johannesburg and first studied political science and African studies before going on to study at Johannesburg's School of Fine Art and the Jacques Le Coq theatre school in Paris in the late 70s.  
 
He started working as an artist in apartheid South Africa and continued through to see the release of Nelson Mandela and the changing face of society for both black and white communities.  His work deals with issues of race and colonisation but it is also a very personal and poetic account of identity in a fast changing world.
 
Kentridge is one of the few artists who have been able to turn his hand to a number of artistic disciplines.  There is a sense that his work refuses to be defined by any one medium.
 
His creativity is often channelled by two alter-egos, the fat, gluttonous capitalist, Sogo Eckstein who is often seen wearing a businessman's pin-striped suit and the more sensitive artist Felix Teitlebaum, who is often pictured nude and with Eckstein's wife.
 
They are played out in his stop-motion animation, which is created by superimposing image upon image so that each picture generates the next.

After Paris William Kentridge

 
His work is informed by the European tradition drawing on masterpieces such as the music of Mozart's Magic Flute for his mock set-design and elements of the absurdist plays The Nose by Gogol and Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi.  
 
These themes are then juxtaposed with contemporary South Africa. The Magic Flute looks at the dualism of Enlightenment values whilst Ubu Roi looks at the notions of power and greed and the abuse of authority within the context of the 1990s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
 
Kentridge's work I am not me, the horse is not mine - originally a performance piece but on this occasion a series of projections - is inspired by Gogol's The Nose. The phrase comes from the Russian and is traditionally used to deny all responsibility.

The work is the sum of many years closely examining the world around him as is the duty of any artist worth his salt. Critics are saying that it transcends the issues of contemporary South Africa and, like that of the German artist Käthe Kollowitz before him, it speaks about universal themes and the human condition.
 
Whether it is able to take on such a great responsibility is open to debate. What is sure is that in the frenetic multi-layering of image on top of image, Kentridge is very much a man of his time.
 
The exhibition will be at the Jeu de Paume until 5 September 2010 - no dress code or leather gloves required.