William Kentridge and his art are in motion around Milwaukee, with exhibit, plays, concert

William Kentridge's elemental drawings of human figures, in charcoal and ink, are the base and heart of his artwork. Often, there's something incomplete about the figures — not because they're sketches, but because they seem to capture one frame of a person in motion.

So it's fitting that the festival organized around an exhibit of Kentridge's art in Milwaukee seems like a constant blur of activity, highlighted by a Present Music concert and theater performances in November.

"William Kentridge: See for Yourself" at the Warehouse Art Museum, 1635 W. St. Paul Ave., shows work from throughout the career of Kentridge, born in 1955 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Curated by Melanie Herzog, nearly all of the work is drawn from the collection of Milwaukee philanthropists Jan Serr and John Shannon, founders of WAM.

The artist's parents were anti-apartheid lawyers. Some commentators see responses to apartheid and oppression in Kentridge's art. It's also easy to see reflections of Expressionism, as in the group portrait "Muizenberg 1933" (created in 1975), which could hang compatibly next to a Max Beckmann painting circa 1930. Herzog's catalog essay for the exhibit quotes Kentridge's own subatomic description of his artistic stance as occupying a space where "optimism is kept in check and nihilism is kept at bay."

Circa 1989, Kentridge began making short animated films that earned him an international reputation. His technique was bold and distinctive. He animated not by making a series of slightly different drawings, but by working on a single sheet. He would make a charcoal drawing, then erase part and redraw it, then keep repeating that sequence until he had all the images he needed.

His erasures show through in the animation like ghosts of past movements. (If, like me, you sometimes struggle to remember what palimpset means, Kentridge is a helpful artist to know.)

His interest in the process of seeing led Kentridge to work with older visual technology, including the phenakistoscope, a hand-cranked device that produces a continuous loop of animation, and stereoscopes, which produce a 3D image. Examples of both are found in this show.

As an exhibit, "William Kentridge: See for Yourself" is unusually strong in reminding us that artworks are the product of human effort, not magical creations from an output slot. Some of this comes from Kentridge's hands-on ways of working and adapting materials, including the erasure animations and prints made on the pages of old, found books. The museum staff has also created several stations where visitors can try some of the types of tools Kentridge has used.

As a young man, Kentridge studied theater arts in Paris and has directed and designed stage productions. The Centre for the Less Good Idea, an interdisciplinary incubator he founded in Johannesburg, will perform as part of the Kentridge festival.

Present Music performs Philip Miller's music for Kentridge films

In connection with the Warehouse exhibit, Milwaukee's Present Music will perform a Kentridge-themed concert 7:30 p.m. Nov. 16 at the Milwaukee Art Museum. It will feature music composed by Philip Miller, who has collaborated with the artist for decades.

In a Zoom conversation from his studio in South Africa, Miller said his work with Kentridge has been "a conversation of image and sound" since they first worked together on the Kentridge animated film "Felix in Exile" (1994). Miller found that film evocative and moving, "but I didn't find a narrative image at the top." Still, some inner prompting held him back from asking the artist to explain "Felix in Exile." Miller feels more at home responding to the art on an intuitive or instinctual level.

The Present Music show, titled "Flat on your back on the dry wintry grass — a cine concert," will feature live performance of Miller's music to several Kentridge animated films. The composer has made new arrangements, including a version of the processional music he wrote for "Triumphs and Laments" (2016), Kentridge's 500-plus meter mural along the banks of the Tiber River in Rome. For that mammoth work, Miller wrote a score for dozens of musical marchers. Present Music won't use quite that many in performing its excerpt, but Miller's eager to hear the music in a concert hall.

At the urging of Warehouse director John Shannon, Miller also has composed a new cycle of art songs using poems by Eliza Kentridge, the artist's sister. While some people think the drum is the archetypal instrument of Africa, for Miller it's the voice. South African soprano Ann Masina and baritone Tshegofatso Moeng will sing his music here with PM. Miller has worked with Masina for more than 20 years. He praised her ability to move fluidly from opera to traditional African singing to gospel to "the most way-out improvisations."

Kentridge events in Milwaukee

• "William Kentridge: See for Yourself" continues through Dec. 16 at The Warehouse, 1635 W. St. Paul Ave. Admission is free. Noon hour tours by curator Melanie Herzog and director John Shannon are scheduled on selected Thursdays throughout the exhibit. Info: WAMmke.org.

• In connection with the exhibit, South Africa's The Centre for the Less Good Idea will perform three one-act plays, "An Outpost of Progress," "Mayakovsky" and "A Hunger Artist" at 2 and 7 p.m. Nov. 8 through 10 at the Broadway Theatre Center, 158 N. Broadway. To purchase tickets, visit cart.broadwaytheatrecenter.com/events. Kentridge will visit Milwaukee to attend open rehearsals for these performances. He also will give a talk at 5 p.m. Nov. 8 at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Registration details for his talk will be announced later at thewarehousemke.org.

• Present Music will perform "Flat on your back on the dry wintry grass — a cine concert," a Kentridge-themed concert 7:30 p.m. Nov. 16 at the Milwaukee Art Museum, 700 N. Art Museum Drive. Present Music. The Bucks Native American Singing and Drumming Group will open the concert. Composer Philip Miller will give a pre-concert talk at 6:30 p.m. For tickets, visit presentmusic.org/events.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: William Kentridge art exhibit turns into a performance festival