Friday, October 9, 2009

Artist Pick 6: Kiki Smith, Second Wave (?) Feminist

Awesome find, full length Kiki Smith on Art 21. Here is the link to the video. Her segment starts at 39:00

Unfortunately, I can't find a good website or blog that has written about her pieces. From what I know about her, she comes from a time in feminism when artists were very very into the "gritty" and grotesque of women. They did not back down from their feminism. For example, one woman poet read a poem from a ribbon as she was pulling it out of her vagina.
I would have LOVED TO HAVE BEEN AN ARTIST AT THIS TIME. This was the age of "female artist." In the third wave, I think we've gotten very caught up in political correctness, and so there is a lot less "I am female, I am proud," and a lot more ambiguity as far as gender...third wavers now lean toward just being a person, not male or female. So I am just an artist, not a female artist, because I have nothing to prove by saying that and because most men do not allude to gender in that way (except of course when they are in the role of something classically considered "woman.." go figure)

Anyway: WAY OFF TRACK HERE.

To remedy her lack of a website, I'll just add some images I can find online and put 'em right here for you all to seee. Don't forget to check out at least some of the video too.
I actually can't find the print I'm looking for and the biggest reason for putting her on here (other than how crazy her stuff is). The print is so SO similar to a piece I am working on for my next painting. It's weird because my painting professor's works have actually had a huge impact on my work, and Kiki Smith has made an even larger impact on my professor. I thought it was really interesting that now I am creating a work so much like Kiki Smith's without ever having seen it and only being influenced by her in this secondary way. WEIRDWEIRD



Whatever, I'm out



endpost.
sketchsteph/

2 comments:

  1. is she the one that gnawed on lard and gnawed on chocolate and made art from that about women stuff? ...i hope you know what i'm talking about.

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