Strauss & co - 7 November 2016, Johannesburg

205 253 William Joseph KENTRIDGE south african 1955– Drawing for Felix in Exile signed and dated ‘96 charcoal on paper 56 by 75 cm R500 000 – 700 000 Felix in Exile , one of Kentridge’s most important works, was the fifth of eight films that occupied the artist between 1989 and 1999. Each of these films consisted of 30 to 40 drawings; each engaged editing, dissolving, erasing and overdrawing techniques, not simply as a form of animation but as a conscious part of the artistic process. 1 The deserted landscape, Felix’s homeland, was used as the backdrop for the film’s credits. ‘In the same way that there is a human act of dismembering the past,’ Kentridge wrote by way of introduction to Felix in Exile , ‘there is a natural process in the terrain through erosion, growth, dilapidation that also seeks to blot out events. In South Africa this process has other dimensions. The very term ‘new South Africa’ has within it the idea of a painting over the old, the natural process of dismembering, the naturalization of things new.’ 2 1 William Kentridge: Felix in Exile, [Online], Available: http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/felix-in-exile/ 2 William Kentridge, [Online], Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Kentridge