Eight Vessels is a new photogravure by William Kentridge, produced in collaboration with Master Printer Jillian Ross. The work consists of four plates, each printed onto single sheets, which have been arranged, overlapping, to form a single image and then hand-painted. 

​

Kentridge created enlarged objects in his home studio made from foam core & paper, and began arranging them on a table as subjects to be drawn as a still life. Inspired by the everyday objects around him and historical master painter Giorgio Morandi, Kentridge’s still life includes water jugs, vases, an ink tin and a bottle of whiskey

(note: an alcohol ban was being enforced during the South African lockdown).

​

The project originated during lockdown in March 2020, when Kentridge was in the unusual situation of being alone in his studio. This allowed for a sustained investigation into the significance of the studio in meaning-making. Emerging from this is a new series of films, Studio Life, and the image contained in Eight Vessels plays an important role, appearing a number of times in the first film, Studio Life: A Natural History of the Studio. 

​

- April 2020, Day 8 of South Africa’s lockdown, William Kentridge embarked on a new film series titled Studio Life. Conversations and images between Kentridge and Ross continued over whatsapp as lockdown restrictions enforced working in isolation, Kentridge in South Africa and Ross in Canada.

 

- July 2020, a photogravure series begins, Studio Life and Eight Vessels, which showcase photographs and film stills from the developing Studio Life films.  The technique of photogravure being utilized as a means of working together from a distance and enabling the inclusion of several print studios in their creation. 

​

​

Publisher. Jillian Ross Print

Printed at. Jillian Ross Print

Printers. Master Printer Jillian Ross

Plate creation by. Steven Dixon