Universal Archive (Six Birds), 2012

In the works assembled from multiple single images attached to one large backing sheet, a key trope of the project is clearly visible in the progressive deconstruction of figurative images into abstract collections of lines, or other figurative images altogether, which are nonetheless still suggestive of the original form – in this case, a bird. This movement from figuration to abstraction and back places this body of work at an interesting intersection between printmaking and animation.

For more information about the presence of birds in Kentridge’s work, listen to this episode of the David Krut Podcast – Thought in Full Flight.