Kiki Smiths Biography and Works

Kiki Smith was born to Tony Smith an American Sculptor in 1954 in Nuremberg, Germany. She is an American born in Germany. Much of her childhood years, Kiki spend assisting her father in his work. She received formal education. She did not love art at her tender age because all her childhood was spent working for her father.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Kiki Smith’s Biography and Works specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More She did not enjoy her childhood as other children did. When other children went for fun activities like camping they never had the opportunity, their work was dividing twigs for her father and assisting him in his work. She did not like what he father did and his appearance because of how children made fun of his beard and owning a porches until having a beard became fashionable. Her work involves using sculptors, paintings and drawings in storytelling. Most of her art work especia lly in her early years in her career revolved around the topic of death. Until having a beard became fashionable. Kiki was born to a catholic family. She believes that her upbringing helped to shape her future career as an artist. She compares Catholics with art, in that, the Catholic faith creates a connection between the spiritual world and the physical world that is like art, the Catholic faith brings out what inside is. She also brings out the connection between art and the catholic that both are forms of storytelling. Kiki’s art work employs the use of sculptors, paintings and drawings to pass out her message. She employs the iconography of fairy tales and story in her work, she borrows from the western iconography already lade nor fraught with meaning. The visual symbolism of little Red Riding Hood, the Evil Witch, the screaming banshee, trigger a flurry of associations. Smith breaks this dialogue, however, by interjecting unexpected storylines into the traditional stor ies (Close 170). She has a passion for paintings and sculptures she explains that this is so because with paintings and sculptures, you can redesign them until you bring out what you want. To her, this is a passion and she gives the best (Richard 251). Kiki Smith is more interested in her own world. Her work involves more of making observations then in appreciation she gives a story. It is more of observation than personal interaction. It is about her personal world and how it relates to others. Kiki says, â€Å"The most important thing for me is looking at objects† (Richard 251). She gets inspiration by observing things. She confirms that to her, it is hard to read that she uses observation; even in her school days, she found it difficult to read so what she knows best is paying attention to things or in her words, â€Å"I listen to things, or I listen to what people say† (Seaman 718).Advertising Looking for research paper on art? Let's see if we can help you! Ge t your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Her works in the beginning of her career mainly were related to death. She would wonder why people die and if it was fit for men to die. This arose after her father’s death. Her work was based on how she could survive and protect herself from death. She thinks art is about one trying to protect him/herself. In her room, she had a skull and had a picture of Charlie Manson. She would speak to the skull and say that Charlie will never get her. This is how much she feared death. She was always afraid of death and kept on thinking that someone would die in their building. She testifies that something strange used to happen in that building and the moment she entered, no one died but they could receive warnings from the fire department and that they needed to clean the house or else a bad thing would happen there (Yablonsky 134). Once she had the phone ring, fear would encompass her and she would not like going home because she th ought someone had died. In her childhood, she always thought death would strike all the time. This influences the start of her career in artwork where, according to her, art work initially focused on death. Never did she understand why people died until she finally accepted that it was okay for people to die. She found death to be strange as a child. She hardly believes in things she has not seen because her motivation is in seeing and not much in hearing. She believes that it is good to be observant for you to get to know a lot. To her, once you see something, you are able to interpret it in other forms (Drake 287). She is a big fan of Virgin Mary. This is because she was raised as a catholic. She has made many artworks in regard to the virgin. Her father used to remind her that â€Å"it was Irish catholic to be morbid† (Drake 287). Most of Kiki’s work borrows from Julia Kristeva especially her beliefs of the â€Å"abject† and â€Å"horror† in her tales about AIDS. Both artists are feminists and have a great interest in sexual matters and women representation. The work of both artists in their artwork creates the picture of feminism that is feminine emotions and psychology. Works Cited Close, Chuck. Kiki Smith. Time 167.19 (2006): 170. Print.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Kiki Smith’s Biography and Works specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Drake, Cathryn. Kiki Smith. Artforum international 44.4(2005): 287. Print. Richard, Frances. Kiki Smith. Artforum international 48.9(2010): 251. Print. Seaman, Donna. Kiki Smith. The Booklist 95.8 (1998): 718. Print. Yablonsky, Linda. Kiki Smith. Artforum international 44.1(2005): 134. Print. This research paper on Kiki Smith’s Biography and Works was written and submitted by user Gunnar Q. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.