Kiki Smith

ARTLAWS

KIKI SMITH is one of the most influential visual artists in the contemporary world. Since the 1980s, Smith has created a prolific and provocative body of work that explores embodiment and the natural world. Utilizing a broad variety of materials and mediums – including sculpture, printmaking, photography, drawing and textiles – Smith’s unique style draws on mythology, folklore, fairytales and religious iconography, while also exploring the human form in all of its frailty and mystery.
We had the privilege of speaking with Kiki Smith on the eve of the unveiling of her rare and momentous public work – a monumental mosaic installation inside the new Grand Central Madison train station in New York City, commissioned by the MTA . This work includes five individual large scale mosaics depicting several Long Island landscape scenes including River Light, inspired by the way the sunlight hits the East River; The Water’s Way rendered in stunning shades of indigo; The Presence, which shows a deer among striking gold reeds; The Spring featuring fowl surrounded by forest during springtime growth; and The Sound which showcases Long Island’s waterway in a magnificent 28-foot wide mural.
Smith has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions worldwide including over 25 museum exhibitions. Her work has been featured at five Venice Biennales and in 2017 was awarded the title of Honorary Royal Academician by the Royal Academy of Arts in London. In 2006, Smith was recognized by TIME Magazine as one of the “TIME 100: The People Who Shape Our World.” Her numerous awards include the Skowhegan Medal for Sculpture (2000), the Nelson A. Rockefeller Award (2010), the U.S. Department of State Medal of Arts (2013), and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the @intsculpturectr (2016). Kiki is also an adjunct professor at NYU and Columbia University.
We join the artist as she walks through the Lower East Side of Manhattan on a late afternoon.

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