Kiki Smith
Untitled, 1994
Plaster body cast with four glass, ink, lead solder and wood objects
70 x 34 x 14 inches
© Kiki Smith, courtesy The Pace Gallery
Photo by: Ellen Page Wilson / Courtesy The Pace Gallery
Kiki Smith
Untitled, 2010
Ink, pencil, and lithographic crayon on Nepal paper
102 x 84-1/2 inches
259.1 x 214.6 cm
Kiki Smith is a German-born American artist who bluntly explores the world of fairy tales, spirituality and the structure of human and animal forms through drawing, print-making, sculpture, collage, and mixed media. Smith creates works where feigned innocence and delicate brutality summon dreams, questions, and fascination. Untitled (2010) is representative of Smith’s recent works which were influenced by the death of her mother. In this drawing the artist addresses this loss directly, depicting her mother laid to rest in an open casket. Drawn on delicate Nepal paper, the physicality of the piece emphasizes the fragility of life. A major retrospective of Smith’s work travelled from 2005 to 2007 to the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and La Colección Jumex, Mexico City. Her work has recently been shown throughout the United States and Europe including at the High Museum, Atlanta; the Brooklyn Museum, New York; the Henry Art Gallery, Seattle; the Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona; and the Kunsthalle Nürnberg.