Art21: William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible

Artist William Kentridge never met a medium he didn’t like. To Kentridge, all the world’s a component, an option. He’s a painter, a sculptor, a performance artist, a puppeteer, a production designer. He works in charcoal, collage, tapestry. His influences range from Picasso sculpture to African carvings to Bolshevik poster art. He freely and fearlessly combines ancient, simple art forms with the latest high-tech gadgetry. Anything Is Possible, an Art21 film directed by Susan Sollins and Charles Atlas with Kentridge’s active participation, is a dazzling tour of some of his past projects, annotated with his explanatory commentary, and of him and various collaborators at work in his studio. The documentary includes exclusive footage of Kentridge developing a Metropolitan Opera production based on “The Nose”, Nikolai Gogol’s satirical short story about a Russian official whose nose departs his face and develops a life of its own. Kentridge likes to say that his job is “to make art, not to make sense.” If sense is lacking here at times, no matter, for wonder and awe and humor are ever-present. For giving viewers the equivalent of an all-access pass to a great creative mind, Art21: William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible receives a Peabody Award.