KIKI SMITH | POOL OF TEARS 2

Sam Messer, New York (gifted directly from the artist)

Acquired from the above by the present owner 

The work is an example of the combination of multidisciplinary media interests that Kiki Smith has employed over her 40-year career, as the intentionally crumpled texture of the Nepalese Lokta paper mimics fabrics that recall her works related to tapestry and textiles. Though media plays a hugely important role in her practice, her work is often figurative, with the female figure acting emblematically of her post-feminist imagery of the 1990s, fascination with the human body, and the connection between humanity and nature, as is demonstrated with the wolf she is holding in her arms. Her work is often inspired by her own childhood and the stories of her youth (such as the Grimm stories), and so narrative, fairytales and folklore are constant motifs in her oeuvre, often expressed through ethereal elements and imaginative creatures. Executed in 1999, this work unifies many of the artist’s most recurring interests and is exemplary of her complex and diversified career.