Installation view, “Kiki Smith: I am a Wanderer”, Modern Art Oxford.
Image courtesy of: Pace Gallery, photographed by: Ben Westoby
Kiki Smith is having a “moment”. During the past year, the West Germany-born and US-based artist was the subject of a few European shows; a retrospective that has traveled from Munich to Tampere, Finland and which is now at the Belvedere in Vienna, an exhibition in Hydra, Greece, and a show at the Monnaie de Paris which will be on view until February 2020.
“I am a Wanderer” is Smith’s first public exhibition in England in nearly 25 years. Small-scale sculptures created from the mid-1980s to present day, large-scale tapestries produced since 2012, and a selection of her printmaking will be displayed.
“Wolf Girl”, part of a series called, “Blue Prints”, 1999. This series explores fairy tales and childhood activities in etchings made with aquatint and drypoint.
Image courtesy of: The New York Times
Smith was a vital part in setting up this show and thus, there are three distinct areas of focus. Smith’s early small sculptures take on “body taboos” such as intimacy, death, decay, and physical pain. During these early years of Smith’s career, she also made many pioneering feminist sculptures about the female body.
“Spinners (Moths and Spiders Webs)”, 2014. Jacquard tapestry with hand-painting and gold leaf. Edition 6 of 10.
Image courtesy of: Magnolia Editions
Twelve tapestries are included in the exhibition, all of which show Smith’s love of animals and nature. She tries to tie her ideas to her surroundings, believing that, “nature is precious and wondrous; it’s our intervention that causes the mayhem.”
Slowly through time, Smith’s artwork grows more mythological and folkloric. Her pieces include a menagerie of both real and made-up creatures. Fragile plants and wondrous stars are also among the subjects represented.
Left- “Sky”, 2012. Jacquard tapestry. The split between the underworld, earth, and heavens pays tribute to the cosmology of the Celts, Native Americans, and Central Americans. The floating nude could be a goddess.
Right- “Cathedral”, 2012. Jacquard tapestry. About her style, Smith says, “I wanted to make things that are a combination of 1920s Art Deco and Hollywood, mixed with the spectacle of nature in the Middle Ages, overt pageantry and hippy art.”
Image courtesy of: Widewalls, photographed by: Timothy Taylor
The twelve tapestries which are part of the show were made using the electronic Jacquard loom. This loom allows Smith to produce the tapestries and their editions at a speed that would be impossible were they woven by hand. In addition, the color and weave variety is facilitated by technical software designed by Magnolia Editions. All of these are substantial improvements.
For the most part, Smith’s work is dreamy and lovely. Often times, forest creatures, stars, spiders, mythological forms, and life-like flora embody her artwork. Sometimes her subjects come to her in a dream and other times, an idea might consume Smith for years.
“Crashed Bat”, 1998. Cast in bronze with ruby red eyes.
Image courtesy of: Art Daily ,photographed by: Tom Barratt
“I am a Wanderer” is a wonderful title for Smith’s show. Walking leisurely through the galleries, visitors explore many curiosities, mythical creatures, and celestial environments.
Maybe it is the twelve large-scale tapestries that greet you as your enter the exhibition, each one populated with a menagerie of wolves, owls, or women as goddesses, that catch your eye. Perhaps someone will be most drawn to the small-scale sculptures or the “cabinet of curiosities” that encompass the smaller galleries. In these galleries, figurines in porcelain and bronze are presented, alongside them is a striking collection of hybrid creatures such as Octopussy… half-cat, half-octopus. The final gallery displays twenty prints produced over the thirty years. In this room, fantasy, body realism, metaphors, magic, and myths merge surprisingly seamlessly.
Pick your “poison”, you won’t be the slightest bit disappointed!