MSU's Kresge Art Museum is hosting an exhibition of twenty prints by critically acclaimed South African artist William Kentridge, as part of MSUs year-long focus on African Arts and Culture (see www.culturalconnection.msu.edu). The exhibit is the first showing of Kentridges art ever presented in mid-Michigan and runs through March 19 in the Works on Paper Gallery. The prints in the exhibition are on loan courtesy of the artist and the Barbara Krakow Gallery in Boston, plus one from a private collection.

A native of Johannesburg, William Kentridge was born into a politically aware, actively anti-apartheid white Jewish family. Unlike most of his upper middle class peers, Kentridge uses his art to respond to the oppression and human tragedies surrounding him, rather than simply closing his eyes to them. Drawing is at the heart of his work and provides the basis for his large murals, prints, mixed media, film, and theater. He finds themes in his personal history and the complex social and political history of South Africa, but his poetic and haunting work transcends his native context to address universal human conditions. His highly expressive charcoal renderings of dark, uncomfortable images visually reveal the dramatic history of his troubled homeland with both irony and gravity.

Until recently, Kentridge and his work have been relatively unknown outside of South Africa mostly due to the world-wide cultural boycott on South Africa before the end of apartheid. Since the mid-1990s, he has enjoyed a meteoric rise to international acclaim and has been recognized as one of the most important artists of our time.

Certain characters appear frequently in Kentridges art. Zeno, the guilt-ridden anti-heroic character based on the 1923 novel Confessions of Zeno by Italo Svevo, features in several series, including two in the exhibition. Felix Teitlebaum, derived from a character in William Hogarths 1747 novel Industry and Idleness, is the subject of Felix in Exile, a video that will run continuously during the exhibition. As Kentridges alter ego, Felix navigates through a barren landscape, dreaming through a life of guilt, memory and forgiveness.

Also included in the show are prints from the 2004 series Thinking Aloud, from drawings that the artist created as a dialogue with art theorist Angela Breidbach. Combining political and personal themes, they are representative of Kentridges style and mode of creation.

Kresge Art Museum director and exhibition curator Susan J. Bandes is pleased to offer this exhibition as Kresge Art Museums contribution to MSUs multidisciplinary focus on African arts and culture. I have seen major retrospectives of Kentridges work at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and New York, says Bandes. His work is visually exciting and multilayered, and the chance to bring art to our mid-Michigan audience that has not been seen here before was one of the motivating factors in this exhibition. Join Dr. Bandes for a gallery walk of the exhibition on February 21 at 12:10 p.m. and March 2 at 5:30 p.m. In addition, documentary films on recent South African history are available for viewing.

Kresge Art Museum is located in East Lansing, MI, on the first floor of the Kresge Art Center at the intersection of Physics and Auditorium Roads between the Alumni Chapel and the MSU Auditorium on the campus of Michigan State University. Museum hours are Monday through Friday, 10 to 5 p.m., Thursday until 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. For additional information, call (517) 355-7631 or visit www.artmuseum.msu.edu. For more information on 2006 Year of African Arts and Culture at Michigan State University please visit www.culturalconnection.msu.edu.

Contact: Heather Winfield, Events & PR Coordinator, (517) 353-9834, hbwin@msu.edu, www.artmuseum.msu.edu