February 18, 2010
Henry offers the photography of Kiki Smith in new exhibit
The Henry Art Gallery is presenting the first comprehensive, touring survey of artist Kiki Smith’s work in photography. I Myself Have Seen It: Photography in the Work of Kiki Smith is the product of a decades-long conversation between the Henry’s Chief Curator Elizabeth Brown and the artist; the exhibition and its related publication examine a little-known body of work to provide important new insights into the goals and impacts of Smith’s extraordinary career.
The exhibit will run from March 6 to Aug. 15 in the Henry’s North Gallery. Smith also will give a lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 4, in 130 Kane. Tickets are $10-15. Tickets for the public are available through Brown Paper Tickets.
The exhibition will explore four roles photographs play as central elements in the development of Smith’s aesthetic and in the creation of her art. Other images suggest a story, including narratives constructed expressly for the camera.
Throughout her work, Smith investigates a variety of themes: the fragility (both psychological and physical) of the body; the deconstruction of fairy tales and myths; the transition from childhood to adult sexuality; the notion of narrative; and the relationship of the art object to the artist and to the viewer.
Conceived as a series of discrete installations, the exhibition incorporates over 1,000 snapshots or small-scale print which suggest how Smith thinks visually. The exhibition also includes over 100 large-scale photographs, many of them showing the artist’s own sculptures at various states of finish. Other photographic works are staged narratives, representing Smith’s unique versions of traditional fairy tales.
The exhibition will juxtapose source photographs from the beginning of a project to the sculptures they inspired, including a selection of three-dimensional objects. It will include photographic images realized in other media, including lithographs, photogravures, and artist’s books. It will also feature examples of her experiments with time-based media, such as her animations of Muybridge stop-motion animal studies.
I Myself Have Seen It: Photography in the Work of Kiki Smith is accompanied by a scholarly and lavishly illustrated 250-page monograph, Kiki Smith: Photographs co-published by the Henry with Prestel Verlag.
For more information about the Henry Art Gallery, its exhibits or programs, visit online at www.henryart.org/
