KIKI SMITH

born 1954 in Nuernberg

lives and works in New York

Kiki Smith spent her childhood in the USA. She is a

self-taught artist, yet as the daughter of Toni Smith she had a good

instructor and promoter for her art. Her works include

sculptures enacted in various materials, sculpture ensembles,

installations, drawings, photographs, graphics and multiples.

She has had numerous individual exhibitions since 1982; among

others, her work has been shown at the MoMa in New York (1990),

The Museum of Art in Vienna (1992) and the Israel Museum,

Jerusalem (1994). From 1994 to 1996 a retrospective of her

graphics and multiples was seen in many cities, including Boston,

New Orleans, Kansas City and Memphis.

"The blue of a jay's feather is broken rather than pigmented."

"I met Andrea in Prince Street, and she had a bright blue

tattoo. The ancient Celts used woad to colour their skin blue.

First I had the tattoo of a daisy done, because I was curious to

see how many petals a depiction of a flower from ancient times

would have. Then I worked on flowers myself and had a tattoo of

a blue butterfly done, before I had my exhibition in Vienna in

1993. When I went for a walk in the area around Salzburg, my

butterflies came towards me from all sides" (Kiki Smith, 1997,

in "Convergence, Irish Museum of Modern Art").