Kiki's Circles

The Gathering

I find myself drawn to Kiki Smith's work in a way that's hard to explain. It brings out something that just leaves me mesmerized and inspired. Some people are drawn to artists because their skills are so breathtaking or their subject matter so compelling. I find that the artists I like best are ones whose ideas are what comes across rather than their execution. For this reason, I love looking at Kiki Smith's creations...her obsession with an idea is so apparent when you look at something she's made. I saw a retrospective of her work a few years back and was blown away by how diverse her pieces were, but also how they all fit so flawlessly together as a narrative of one person's creativity. And I loved how unashamedly she geeks out on certain themes or ideas. Her whole persona just flooded the exhibition space and it was hard not to feel caught up in her world of fantasy and fascination with certain ideas. Like the line between human and animal and how quickly that line disappears when examined, when humans are broken down to their bodily components. I felt like she was exploring all these ideas with her hands by making things...like I was immersed in a delightful and slightly obsessive fairy tale without a clear happy ending.

Of all the things that I love about her work, I love the personality that comes through so clearly. She does so many different kinds of things--sculpture, drawings, installations--but they are all so clearly the product of the same imagination, the same fascinations. Her huge awe of the natural world is so lovely that I just want to stand up and start clapping when I am in the same room as her art. In tribute, her are some of my favorite things of hers (of course with circles).

Constellation