A few weeks ago I invited a friend to the exhibition opening preview part for Kiki Smith: A Gathering, 1980-2005, and this friend’s first response was, “Who’s he?”
“Kiki’s a girl,” I reply.
“Well, what does she do?”
“She works in sculpture mostly – but really super-fantastic sculpture. There are lots of bodies and fluids and fairytales. It will rock. So, you wanna go?”
True to form, Kiki didn’t disappoint and I had a fabulous time wandering through the galleries of this – her first major retrospective ever organized in the U.S.
Born, 2002, bronze Courtesy the artist and PaceWildenstein Gallery, New York
Photograph by Kerry Ryan McFate
The following day was a conversation between Kiki and much-beloved art critic and writer, Peter Schjeldahl. It was interesting to hear Kiki expound on the role of narrative – or the non-narrative, as it happens – in her work. Peter was actually far funnier than I was expecting, and came prepared with a list of words for Kiki to react to; among them being the phrase “death, disease, and dismemberment.”
At one point when the conversation seemed to be dwindling, Peter pulled a question out of the “I can’t seem to think of anything else” bag: “Kiki, if you could be any of the animals your work portrays, which animal would you want to be?”
Kiki: “Oh! I’d want to be a worm. I like worms.”
A few chuckles whispered around the auditorium, and Peter looked as though he were trying to decide how best to proceed when Kiki asked: “Peter, what kind of animal would you be?”
Peter: “I think I’d be a dog.” As Peter took a moment to think about why he’d be a dog, mumbling a few ‘hmms’ and ‘well…’ phrases, Kiki leaned in a little to say, “I could crawl up your asshole!”
The whole audience took a moment to silently debate: Did she REALLY just say that? I looked over my shoulder at the camera, thinking about the folks in Online Land watching the event as a webcast. Did they catch that? Peter looked speechless, and even Kiki seemed a little suprised by it. Just as quickly the moment passed and the whole place erupted in laughing and snorting. Peter still looked like he was trying to strategize a way to rescue this event when she added: “Or you could step on me.”
And now that happily-ever-after moment will be preserved for future generations to enjoy on the Walker Channel.
Blue Girl, 1998, silicon bronze Private Collection, New York /
Courtesy PaceWildenstein Gallery, New York
Photograph by Ellen Page Wilson
Get Walker Reader in your inbox. Sign up to receive first word about our original videos, commissioned essays, curatorial perspectives, and artist interviews.