All Creatures Great and Small: New Work

The latest work of American artist Kiki Smith (b. 1954) has received wide acclaim. Having concentrated on the human body, Smith now focuses on creatures that take part in our existence. The inspiration for this new work was a mysterious dream the artist had, and she brings to the art a clarity of purpose that deliberately contrasts the beauty in nature with our uneasy relationship to it. Looking through her new work is akin to walking through a fairy tale full of beauty, gracefulness, yet also one of fear. She finds sources in past cultures and mythology, and re-discovers old forms and materials -- working them into a contemporary context. Smith works with drawing, sculpture, photography, video, paper, ceramics, glass, and other media. We encounter pictures and conceptions from Christian iconography, and from Egyptian, Celtic or Indian mythology, Published on the occasion of Kiki Smith's exhibition at the Kestner Gesellschaft in Hannover, Germany this volume is a real treat for all connoisseurs of contemporary art.