Kiki Smith

Kiki Smith (born January 18, 1954) is a West German-born American artist[1] whose work has addressed the themes of sex, birth and regeneration. Her figurative work of the late 1980s and early 1990s confronted subjects such as AIDS and gender, while recent works have depicted the human condition in relationship to nature. Smith lives and works in the Lower East Side, New York City,[2] and the Hudson Valley, New York State.[3]

Kiki Smith
Kiki Smith in 2013
Born (1954-01-18) January 18, 1954
Nuremberg, West Germany
NationalityGerman American
Known forPrintmaking, sculpture, drawing
My Blue Lake, photogravure with lithograph by Kiki Smith, 1995, Wake Forest University Art Collections

Early life and education

Smith's father was artist Tony Smith and her mother was actress and opera singer Jane Lawrence.[4] Although Kiki's work takes a very different form than that of her parents, early exposure to her father's process of making geometric sculptures allowed her to experience formal craftsmanship firsthand. Her childhood experience in the Catholic Church, combined with a fascination for the human body, shaped her work conceptually.[5]

Smith moved from Germany to South Orange, New Jersey, as an infant in 1955. She subsequently attended Columbia High School, but left to attended Changes, Inc.[1][6] Later, she was enrolled at Hartford Art School in Connecticut for eighteen months from 1974–75. She then moved to New York City in 1976 and joined Collaborative Projects (Colab), an artist collective. The influence of this radical group's use of unconventional materials can be in seen in her work.[7] For a short time in 1984, she studied to be an emergency medical technician and sculpted body parts, and by 1990, she began to craft human figures.[1]

Work

Themes

Prompted by her father's death in 1980 and by the AIDS death of her sister, the underground actress Beatrice “Bebe” Smith, in 1988, Smith began an ambitious investigation of mortality and the physicality of the human body. She has gone on to create works that explore a wide range of human organs; including sculptures of hearts, lungs, stomach, liver and spleen. Related to this was her work exploring bodily fluids, which also had social significance as responses to the AIDS crisis (blood) and women's rights (urine, menstrual blood, feces).[8]

Film

In 1984 Smith finished a definitively unfinished feminist no wave super8 film, begun in 1981, entitled Cave Girls (film).[9] It was co-directed by Ellen Cooper.

Printmaking

Smith has experimented with a wide range of printmaking processes. Some of her earliest print works were screen-printed dresses, scarves and shirts, often with images of body parts. In association with Colab, Smith printed an array of posters in the early 1980s containing political statements or announcing Colab events. In 1988 she created "All Souls",[10] a fifteen-foot screen-print work featuring repetitive images of a fetus, an image Smith found in a Japanese anatomy book. Smith printed the image in black ink on 36 attached sheets of handmade Thai paper.

MoMA and the Whitney Museum both have extensive collections of Smith's prints. In the "Blue Prints" series, 1999, Kiki Smith experimented with the aquatint process. The "Virgin with Dove"[11] was achieved with an airbrushed aquatint, an acid resist that protects the copper plate. When printed, this technique results in a halo around the Virgin Mary and Holy Spirit.

Sculpture

Mary Magdelene (1994), a sculpture made of silicon bronze and forged steel, is an example of Smith's non-traditional use of the female nude. The figure is without skin everywhere but her face, breasts and the area surrounding her navel. She wears a chain around her ankle; her face is relatively undetailed and is turned upwards. Smith has said that when making Mary Magdalene she was inspired by depictions of Mary Magdalene in Southern German sculpture, where she was depicted as a "wild woman". Smith's sculpture "Standing" (1998), featuring a female figure standing atop the trunk of a Eucalyptus tree, is a part of the Stuart Collection of public art on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. Another sculpture, Lilith, a bronze with glass eyes is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Lilith is an arresting figure, hanging upside down on a wall of the gallery.[12]

In 2005, Smith's installation, Homespun Tales won acclaim at the 51st Venice Biennale. Lodestar, Smith's 2010 installation at the Pace Gallery, was an exhibition of free-standing stained glass works painted with life-size figures.

Rapture, 2001 bronze

Commissions

After five years of development, Smith's first permanent outdoor sculpture was installed in 1998 on the campus of the University of California, San Diego.[13]

In 2010, the Museum at Eldridge Street commissioned Smith and architect Deborah Gans to create a new monumental east window for the 1887 Eldridge Street Synagogue, a National Historic Landmark located on New York's Lower East Side.[14] This permanent commission marked the final significant component of the Museum's 20-year restoration [15] and was topped off with an exhibition of site-specific sculptures by Smith in a 2018 show entitled Below the Horizon: Kiki Smith at Eldridge.[16]

For the Claire Tow Theater above the Vivian Beaumont Theater, Smith conceived Overture (2012), a little mobile made of cross-hatched planks and cast-bronze birds.[17]

Artist books

She has created unique books, including: Fountainhead (1991); The Vitreous Body (2001); and Untitled (Book of Hours) (1986).

Tapestries

Since the early 2010s Smith has created twelve 9 x 6 ft. Jacquard tapestries, published by Magnolia Editions. In 2012, Smith showed a series of three of these woven editions at the Neuberger Museum of Art.[18] In early 2019, all twelve were exhibited together as part of "What I saw on the road" at the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, Italy.[19] Smith notes that the tapestries provide an opportunity to work at a larger scale ("I never thought I could make a picture so big") and to work with color, which she does not frequently do otherwise.[20][21]

Collaborations

Smith collaborated with poet Mei-mei Berssenbrugge to produce Endocrinology (1997), and Concordance (2006), and with author Lynne Tillman to create Madame Realism (1984).[22] She has worked with poet Anne Waldman on If I Could Say This With My Body, Would I. I Would.[23] Smith also collaborated on a performance featuring choreographer Douglas Dunn and Dancers, musicians Ha-Yang Kim, Daniel Carter, Ambrose Bye, and Devin Brahja Waldman, performed by and set to Anne Waldman's poem Jaguar Harmonics.[24]

Exhibitions

In 1982, Smith received her first solo exhibition, "Life Wants to Live", at The Kitchen.[25] Since then, her work has been exhibited in nearly 150 solo exhibitions at museums and galleries worldwide and has been featured in hundreds of significant group exhibitions, including the Whitney Biennial, New York (1991, 1993, 2002); La Biennale di Firenze, Florence, Italy (1996-1997; 1998); and the Venice Biennale (1993, 1999, 2005, 2009).[15]

Past solo exhibitions have been held at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Modern Art Museum, Fort Worth (1996–97); Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (1996–97); Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (1997–98); Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC (1998); Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (1998); Center for Curatorial Studies and Art in Contemporary Culture, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson (1999); St. Louis Art Museum (1999-2000); and the International Center for Photography (2001).[25]

In 1996, Smith exhibited in a group show at SITE Santa Fe, along with Kara Walker.[26]

In 2005, "the artist's first full-scale American museum survey" titled Kiki Smith: A Gathering, 1980-2005 debuted at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.[27] Then an expansion came to the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis where the show originated. At the Walker, Smith coauthored the catalogue raisonné with curator Siri Engberg.[28]

The exhibition traveled to the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, to the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York,[29] and finally to La Coleccion Jumex in Ecatepec de Morelos outside Mexico City. In 2008, Smith gave Selections from Animal Skulls (1995) to the Walker in honor of Engberg.[30]

Smith participated in the 2017 Venice Biennale, Viva Arte Viva, from May 13 - November 16, 2017.[31]

In 2018, Smith took part in Frieze Sculpture (part of Frieze Art Fair, where her work Seer (Alice I), Timothy Taylor (gallery),[32] was presented in Regent's Park, London, England, from July 4 - October 7, 2018.[33]

Also in London in 2018, an exhibition of Smith's tapestries, sculpture and works on paper was presented at the Timothy Taylor (gallery) from September 13 – October 27.[34] Woodland was produced in collaboration with Magnolia Editions.[35]

In 2019, the DESTE Foundation’s Project Space at the Slaughterhouse on Hydra island featured Memory, a site specific exhibition. [36]

In 2019 The 11 Conti – Monnaie de Paris presented the first solo show of Smith by a French public institution.[37]

In 2019 the Belvedere Museum in Vienna, Austria, presented a solo show of Smith entitled Processions [38], presenting about sixty works from the last three decades.

Recognition

Smith's many accolades also include the Nelson A. Rockefeller Award from Purchase College School of the Arts (2010),[39] Women in the Arts Award from the Brooklyn Museum (2009),[40] the 50th Edward MacDowell Medal (2009), the Medal Award from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2006), the Athena Award for Excellence in Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design (2006), the Skowhegan Medal for Sculpture from the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine (2000), and Time Magazine’s “Time 100: The People Who Shape Our World” (2006). Smith was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, in 2005.[15]

In 2012, she received the U.S. State Department Medal of Arts from Hillary Clinton. Pieces by Smith adorn consulates in Istanbul and Mumbai.[41] After being chosen speaker for the annual Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher Lecture Series in Contemporary Sculpture and Criticism in 2013, Smith became the artist-in-residence for the University of North Texas Institute for the Advancement of the Arts in the 2013-14 academic year.[42]

In 2016, Smith was awarded the International Sculpture Center's Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award.

References
  • Adams, Laurie Schneider, Ed. A History of Western Art Third Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2001.
  • Berland, Rosa JH. "Kiki Smith: A Gathering, 1980-2005.” C Magazine: International Contemporary Art, 2007.
  • Engberg, Siri, Linda Nochlin, and Marina Warner, Kiki Smith: A Gathering, 1980–2005 (Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2005).
  • Posner, Helaine, with an interview by Christopher Lyon, Kiki Smith (Monacelli Press, New York), 2005.
  • Alan W. Moore and Marc Miller, eds., ABC No Rio Dinero: The Story of a Lower East Side Art Gallery (Collaborative Projects (Colab), NY, 1985).

Footnotes
  1. "Kiki Smith | American artist". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  2. Danielle Stein (October 2007), "The Glass Menagerie" Archived 2016-07-19 at the Wayback Machine, W; accessed April 1, 2015.
  3. Kiki Smith Shares a Glimpse Into Her World, in Photographs
  4. Roberta Smith. "Jane Lawrence Smith, 90, Actress Associated With 1950's Art Scene, Dies", nytimes.com; accessed April 1, 2015.
  5. "Kiki Smith | Art21 | PBS". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  6. Kiki & Seton Smith; A Sense of Place, Seton Hall University. Accessed January 19, 2020. "'Seton knew she wanted to be an artist when she was 12, but I had no idea,' Kiki says. 'I went to Columbia High School and just hated it. My parents sent me to Changes, Inc., which was run by the Ethical Culture Society and was more progressive.'"
  7. "Kiki Smith Prints at Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE)". ulae.com. Archived from the original on 2017-05-18. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  8. "Queen of Arts". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2017-03-31.
  9. Kiki Smith interviewed by Joseph Nechvatal on Cave Girls (film), Collaboration, and Some of Her Earliest Works published January 14, 2020 at Hyperallergic
  10. Wendy Weitman; Kiki Smith; Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.) (2003). Kiki Smith: Prints, Books & Things. The Museum of Modern Art. pp. 15–. ISBN 978-0-87070-583-0.
  11. Wendy Weitman; Kiki Smith; Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.) (2003). Kiki Smith: Prints, Books & Things. The Museum of Modern Art. pp. 35–. ISBN 978-0-87070-583-0.
  12. Smith, Kiki (1994). "Lilith". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2019-03-14.
  13. Leah Ollman (November 1, 1998), She Stands Expectation on Its Head Los Angeles Times; accessed April 1, 2015.
  14. Robin Pogrebin (November 23, 2009), Kiki Smith and Deborah Gans to Design Window for Eldridge Street Synagogue, New York Times; accessed April 1, 2015.
  15. Kiki Smith: Lodestar, April 30–June 19, 2010 Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, PaceGallery.com; accessed April 1, 2015.
  16. Kiki Smith returns with a site-specific installation of sculptural work by Allison Meier, June 4, 2018, Hyperallergic
  17. Michael Kimmelman (July 15, 2012), "A Glass Box That Nests Snugly on the Roof", nytimes.com; accessed April 1, 2015.
  18. "Visionary Sugar: Works by Kiki Smith at the Neuberger Museum." artnet.com. Retrieved 2013-02-13.
  19. "Kiki Smith: What I saw on the road". Uffizi Galleries.
  20. Dorsa, Daniel. "Inside the Magical and Relentlessly Creative World of Beloved Artist Kiki Smith". Artsy. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  21. Stone, Nick (2018). Kiki Smith: Tapestries. Magnolia Editions (Oakland, CA).
  22. http://flavorwire.com/447649/2014-will-be-the-year-of-lynne-tillman/
  23. http://www.brooklynrail.org/2010/04/poetry/if-i-could-say-this-with-my-body-would-i-i-would
  24. http://www.annewaldman.org/jaguar-harmonics-a-collaborative-performance-douglas-dunn-salon-new-york-ny-2/
  25. Kiki Smith: Realms, March 14–April 27, 2002 Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, PaceGallery.com; accessed April 1, 2015.
  26. http://anagr.am, Anagram, LLC -. "Conceal/Reveal - SITE Santa Fe". SITE Santa Fe. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  27. "Whitney To Present Kiki Smith Retrospective, Traversing The Artist's 25-Year Career" (PDF) (Press release). Whitney Museum of American Art. July 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 6, 2013. Retrieved May 5, 2013.
  28. "Siri Engberg". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved May 3, 2013.
  29. Mark Stevens (November 25, 2007), "The Way of All Flesh", nytimes.com; accessed April 1, 2015.
  30. "Annual Report" (PDF). Walker Art Center. 2008. p. 55. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 8, 2012. Retrieved May 4, 2013.
  31. "La Biennale di Venezia - Artists". www.labiennale.org. Archived from the original on 2017-06-29. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
  32. "Seer (Alice I), 2005". www.akronartmuseum.org. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  33. "Frieze Sculpture 2018". www.frieze.com. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  34. Jackie Wullschlager (September 28, 2018), "Frieze London: women at work", ft.com; accessed October 3, 2018.
  35. "Kiki Smith: Woodland, 13 September – 27 October 2018, London". www.timothytaylor.com. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  36. Kiki Smith Memory
  37. Kiki Smith at Monnaie de Paris
  38. https://www.belvedere.at/en/kiki-smith
  39. Kiki Smith Pace Gallery, New York.
  41. Mike Boehm (November 30, 2012), "Hillary Clinton will give five artists medals for embassy art", Los Angeles Times; accessed April 1, 2015.
  42. Internationally renowned artist Kiki Smith to serve as IAA artist-in-residence at UNT for 2013-14 University of North Texas, September 27, 2013.
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