The following is a statement by Elizabeth A. Brown, Curator for an exhibition of work by Kiki Smith in 1994 at the University Art Museum in Santa Barbara California.

      "One of the most influential artists of her generation, Kiki Smith makes sculpture of and about the body in materials as diverse as bronze, paper, and wax.Ranging from fragments of the body to whole figures in the round, from the miniature to the monumental, from neutral or natural coloration to bright,

unfamiliar hues, her sculptures are united by their sensual impact and their frank acceptance of corporeal reality. This exhibition, mixing a group of new works with examples of important recent pieces from Southern California collections in an installation designed by the artist, demonstrated the visceral qualities Smith can elicit from a variety of traditional and unusual mediums-evoking solid bodies in ostensibly fragile silk tissue or creating transitory visual effects in solid bronze. It also revealed her expressive scope: rather than argue a specific political interpretation or conform to a single way of suggesting meaning, Smith's art explores the diverse possibilities inherent in the body as subject and object, self and other."
       
      Kiki Smith was born in Nuremburg, Germany in 1954. She is the daughter of the late Minimalist sculptor Tony Smith (1912-1980). After working individually for several years in New York City, Smith joined the alternative artists' collective Colab (Collaborative Projects, Inc.), participating in their activities and exhibitions from 1979 to 1982. Her interest in bodily parts manifested itself as early as 1979, and by 1985 she was certified as an Emergency Medical Technician. The experience of training to be an EMT reinforced her interest in the body: "It is physically very beautiful to look at the exposure of the insides and outsides at the same time." By the mid '80s, her underground reputation for creating strange, quirky drawings, prints, and sculptures that focused on bodily fluids, secretions, systems, and parts began to surface. Smith's first major New York gallery show at Fawbush Gallery in 1988 won her great acclaim and launched her national and international reputation. She remains in the forefront of the art world today, with frequent solo exhibitions in the United States and Europe.

  Kiki Smith was born in Nuremburg, Germany in 1954. She is the daughter of the late Minimalist sculptor Tony Smith (1912-1980). After working individually for several years in New York City, Smith joined the alternative artists' collective Colab (Collaborative Projects, Inc.), participating in their activities and exhibitions from 1979 to 1982. Her interest in bodily parts manifested itself as early as 1979, and by 1985 she was certified as an Emergency Medical Technician. The experience of training to be an EMT reinforced her interest in the body: "It is physically very beautiful to look at the exposure of the insides and outsides at the same time."5 By the mid '80s, her underground reputation for creating strange, quirky drawings, prints, and sculptures that focused on bodily fluids, secretions, systems, and parts began to surface. Smith's first major New York gallery show at Fawbush Gallery in 1988 won her great acclaim and launched her national and international reputation. She remains in the forefront of the art world today, with frequent solo exhibitions in the United States and Europe.