Kentridge, "Walking Man"

Kentridge's "Walking Man" is a large scale linocut, or the cutting/carving of a sheet of linoleum, and pressing the resulting pattern onto a canvas or paper. Kentridge uses an intricate repetition of line and large areas of solid color, black, to create the monochromatic image of the walking man. Kentridge uses lines of white to define areas within the man's body, and cross-hatches the background to produce areas of gray. The lines of the work create fluidity, drawing the eye upwards from the feet to the lines that create the branches that grouw out of the man's body and reach out to the top of the work. There is a definite sense of space and framing in the work, as Kentridge outlines his work with a black edge.
The figure of the man appears very heavy and powerful, and takes up maost of the space of the work, while tree branches grow out of where the man's head should be. The powerful stance, weight, and motion of the man suggest the bad effect of humanity has on nature. However, the numerous branches growing upwards out of the man's head suggest the resilience of nature even after the heavy footsteps of the man. The relationship between the man and the branches seems strange and opposite, yet somehow fluid, as there is no boundary between man and tree. The small branches growing out of the man's hands also complicate the relationship of the two ideas.

(Sorry if this doesn't exactly cover the assignment, I wasn't fully sure of what the prompt was.)