E xecuted in 2017, The Riddle is arguably the most sophisticated example by Emily Mae Smith to surface at auction. Particularly interested in how identity is inscribed on a body, Smith’s surreal, anthropomorphic figures become sites to construct complex narratives and internal dialogues. Riffing on Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’ famous work Oedipus and the Sphinx from 1808 and borrowing from the 1960s Chicago Imagists with its vibrant colors, energetic draftsmanship, uninhibited Surrealist influences, The Riddle is a prime example of Smith’s grotesque and flawlessly executed style.

Emily Mae Smith creates lively compositions that offer sly social and political commentary, with a nod to distinct historical painting movements, such as Symbolism, Surrealism, and Pop Art. Her lexicon of signs and symbols begins with her avatar, an anthropomorphic broomstick figure. Simultaneously referencing the painter’s brush, a domestic tool associated with women’s work, and the phallus, the figure continually transforms across Smith’s body of work. By adopting a variety of guises, the broom and other symbols speak to contemporary subjects, including gender, sexuality, capitalism, and violence.

In Smith's works, Oedipus has been replaced by her recurring “broom lady” character, a clear reference to the bewitched broom in the film Fantasia and also a vehicle for Smith to explore the anxiety surrounding the creative act as well as the formation of subjectivity. A vehicle through which Smith can parody and present the female artist as a phallus, the broom directs the viewer towards multiplicity. As Smith explains; “The broom-like figure, which has gone through a lot of permutations and changes, has the agency to move in painting and its histories because its image is bound up with our phallocentric myths of authenticity and creation.” In the present work, Smith’s broom is holding a disproportionally large brush and conversing with a stone figure inside a grotto, searching for its next subject.

這 幅繪於2017年的《謎語》可以說是拍場歷來所見細節最豐富精彩的艾米莉・梅・史密斯作品。這位藝術家對身體如何被刻畫上身分認同尤感興趣，她藉著筆下超現實的擬人角色，呈現出複雜的故事及內省的對話。在《謎語》中，史密斯從讓・奧古斯特・多米尼克・安格爾（Ingres）在1808年開始創作的名畫《俄狄浦斯與獅身人面像》取材，並向60年代深受超現實主義影響的芝加哥意象派借鑑，以鮮艷的色彩和充滿活力的筆觸，展現她的怪誕風格和精湛畫藝。

艾米莉・梅・史密斯的作品生動富趣味，不時機靈地摻入一些她對社會現象的看法。史密斯的視覺語彙充滿了各種符號及象徵，擬人化的掃帚更是她的標誌。它不但代表畫家的畫筆，同時是一件被視為與婦女工作相關的家務用具，也是男性生殖器的象徵，而且仍然在史密斯的作品中不斷演變進化；她讓掃帚和畫中其他象徵物件以各種不同形象出現，從而探討性別、性、資本主義與暴力等當代議題。

在本作中，史密斯的「掃帚小姐」明顯是參考了電影《幻想曲》中的魔法掃帚，並取代了原畫《俄狄浦斯與獅身人面像》中俄狄浦斯的位置。透過這把掃帚，史密斯探究創作者的焦慮和主觀思考形成的過程，並以戲謔的方式將自己轉化為具雄性特質的物件，引導觀者作多角度思考。史密斯曾表示：「這貌似掃帚的角色經歷了不少轉變，又曾與不同元素組合配對，它的形象令人聯想起真實性和創作被男性主導的迷思，因此它可以在不同畫作及其過去之間遊走。」在本作中，史密斯的掃帚正握著一支不合比例的大型畫筆，並在與一個石窟內的石像對話，尋找著它下一幅作品的主題。