Kiki Smith

Kiki Smith is a highly regarded contemporary American artist known for her diverse body of work that explores themes of the human body, feminism, and mortality. Her art spans various mediums, including sculpture, printmaking, drawing, and textiles. Her portfolio also encompasses literary works such as "Fountainhead" (1991), "The Vitreous Body" (2001), and "Untitled (Book of Hours)" (1986).

Biography of Kiki Smith

Kiki Smith was born in 1954 in Nuremberg, West Germany, and currently resides and works in the Lower East Side of New York City and the Hudson Valley in New York State, USA.

In 1955, Smith's family relocated from Germany to South Orange, New Jersey. She went on to study at Columbia High School but left to join Changes, Inc. Her educational journey led her to the Hartford Art School in Connecticut, where she spent eighteen months between 1974 and 1975. In 1976, she moved to New York City, becoming a member of Collaborative Projects (Colab), an artist collective.

In 2005, Smith gained acclaim for her installation titled 'Homespun Tales,' which earned recognition at the 51st Venice Biennale.

Since the early 2010s, Smith has created a series of twelve Jacquard tapestries, each measuring 9 x 6 feet. These remarkable pieces have been produced in collaboration with Magnolia Editions.

In 2022, Smith began the creation of a collection consisting of five expansive mosaics, designed for the Manhattan train station at Grand Central Madison station.

Kiki Smith's artistic contributions have been featured in five Venice Biennales. She holds memberships in esteemed institutions such as the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2017, the Royal Academy of Arts in London bestowed upon her the title of Honorary Royal Academician. Furthermore, her influence was recognized when TIME Magazine listed her in the 2006 "TIME 100: The People Who Shape Our World."

Kiki Smith's Art Practice

Stimulated by her father's passing in 1980 and the subsequent AIDS-related death of her sister in 1988, Smith embarked on an ambitious exploration of mortality and the physicality of the human body. Her artistic journey has led her to create pieces that explore human organs, encompassing sculptures depicting hearts, lungs, stomachs, livers, and spleens.

In 1988, she created 'All Souls,' a monumental screen-print composition spanning fifteen feet. This artwork featured repetitive depictions of a fetus, sourced from a Japanese anatomy book that had captured Smith's attention. Using black ink, she meticulously printed this image on 36 interconnected sheets of handmade Thai paper.

Created in 1994, "Mary Magdalene" stands as a testament to Smith's unconventional approach to portraying the female form. Crafted from silicon bronze and forged steel, this sculpture embodies a distinctive aesthetic. Smith has shared that her inspiration for "Mary Magdalene" stemmed from depictions of the biblical figure in Southern German sculpture, where she was often portrayed as an untamed and free-spirited persona.

Smith ventured into the realm of animal imagery in both her prints and sculptures. Concurrently, she continued her representation of human forms, often drawing inspiration from female characters found in fairy tales, folklore, and mythology.

During the 2000s, her creative endeavors merged these themes to depict the dynamic interplay between women and the natural world. Smith's fascination extended to creation stories and cosmology, prompting her to create bronze wall-mounted starbursts like "Net" (2012), as well as aluminum sculptures on iron stands.