Kiki Smith

Rating:
Summary: This book is an artists True Grit.
Review: As a female and an artist, I have always tried to connect with images that make me feel "at home" in the grittiest, most sensual and realistic sense of the phrase. I first came upon Kiki Smith's work in 1997 at the Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art (Texas). The impression her work gives is so powerful that I have literally been able to cruise through and view the pieces again in my memory in exactly the position they were in at that time. With this book, ends my search for this artist who has the perseverance to work with dozens of often difficult mediums ranging from glass, metal, and wood, to paper, ink, paint, and wax. In this book, Kiki Smith displays a vaste expanse of works and a personal history that expose her own raw nerves of human sensuality through biological form. She twists and molds the surfaces of skin, bone, hair, and leaves you vulnerable... exposed.. but never willing to stop experiencing it. Her work is an example of the passion for the cycles of death-life-death. This book, has quenched and intensified some of my curiosity about her work and her history. Kiki Smith IS one of the finest examples our new Millenium has to offer the history of art. -Maria V. Sheets -Art Conservator/Painter and Co-Chair for the Dallas Women's Caucus for Art

Rating:
Summary: An absolutely beautiful collection of Smith's work...
Review: This book is a wonderful representation of where Smith started and where she's headed in her art. The dozens and dozens of color reproductions are mezmorizing, and the text gives the reader a great glimpse of Smith's life and background. However, I wish there had been more theoretical essays included; Smith has had an enormous impact on late 20th century art, and feminist art in particular. It would have been great to read more about what's behind some of her major works included in the book. I suppose Posner wanted the reader to come up with ideas of her own...

I highly reccommend this book not only to art book collectors, but also to artists and art history students.