Kentridge Studio Life Gravures

projects

March 2023

Studio Life Gravures
William Kentridge

Jillian Ross Print and David Krut Projects is pleased to present a new body of work through an exciting collaboration between William Kentridge, Master Printer Jillian Ross and the David Krut Workshop, together with photogravure experts, Steven Dixon in Edmonton, Canada and Zhané Warren in Cape Town, South Africa.

Beckmann's with Jam Jar and Scissors William Kentridge

The Old Gods Have Retired William Kentridge

StudioLife Gravure

Studio Life Gravures published by Jillian Ross Print

& David Krut Projects

2020 - 2023

This collaborative project is a continuation of a process that began as an innovative solution aimed towards creating a series of prints within the confines of self-isolation over great geographical distances. Spanning over three continents, three years and three print studios, this project seeks to explore and expand on the inventive processes that artist William Kentridge and Master Printer Jillian Ross have developed to collaborate on the creation of a new body of prints.

During numerous COVID lockdowns around the world and not having the ability to travel and work collaboratively in person, Kentridge suggested the age-old method of photogravure as a methodology of working together while remaining in isolation.

Studio Life Series

Studio Life Series published by David Krut Projects

Concurrently, in his Houghton studio, Kentridge was working on a new film series based on his ‘studio life’ practices. This period of isolation allowed Kentridge time for a sustained investigation into the significance of the studio in his making, his meaning, and his working processes while not yet understanding the lasting effects to come from COVID-related events.

Through the lens of film stills, cell phone photos, and hi-res photographs, a new body of gravure prints emerged as part of Kentridge’s Studio Life which has developed in film, drawings, mixed media artworks and in print.

A studio walk through at the University of Edmonton's printmaking department with just about every surface being used to in the development of the photogravure plates in their various stages.

This body of prints is a culmination of three years of collaborations between three print studios and highlights the unique skills and practiced techniques of the individuals in each studio. It is a collaboration where all come together to make sense of a renewed working practice through gravure printmaking.

The project unfolds in two parts with the Studio Life photogravure series made from photographic stills, published by David Krut Projects, and a series of photogravure prints that form part of the Studio Life Gravures, published by Jillian Ross Print and David Krut Projects.