A solo exhibition in the Royal Academy’s vast Main Galleries is a privilege given only to the most major artists. Following on from shows by heavy-hitters Antony Gormley and Anish Kapoor, South African artist William Kentridge is the latest artist to be accorded the honour. But it’s an honour that doesn’t come without a degree of risk.Gormley and Kapoor’s shows were both solid crowd-pullers, but both were widely criticised for being “bombastic” and “overblown”.
While the Johannesburg-based Kentridge is less well-known, he’s similarly aged – in his late-sixties – no less fond of the grand gesture, and unafraid of massive jumps in scale: from exquisitely made artist books to truly epic live events. But though Kentridge is a brilliant illustrator and stage designer I’ve never been entirely convinced by his art as, well, art.
