o hand in hand

for the past few days, i've been trying to think of artists that have stirred enthusiasm within me recently... and i'm not coming up with much (at least not in the "fine arts"... there are plenty of filmmakers, musicians, authors, etc.). so i've been trying to re-cap, in my brain, things that have impressed me, semi-recently.

one such event was the kiki smith show at the fabric workshop about a year back. it's funny how smith went from being someone to which i was basically indifferent (she always seemed a bit too archetypal or something), to being increasingly exciting and informative. and she seems to have gained this momentum in the wake of her initial hype (perhaps an underrated moment for an artist). what i like about her recent work, in addition to simply being a sucker for anything evoking a storybook, is that it seems deeply personal while remaining extremely light. at the show, the atmosphere was certainly akin to that of a diary, only without the voyeurism and transgression that such a thing might imply. unlike the violent and polemical surrealists of years past, smith's pictorial unconscious (if that is indeed what we're given access to) is both generous and welcoming. there is great freedom in her iconography, and one apprehends it with an ease akin to looking at a matisse, perhaps (possibly the antithesis of the experience of reading a diary).

it's rare to find an artist that can articulate a specific iconography without the heavy hand of an oppressive agenda. if this work tells a story, it is through hints and suggestions. at her best, smith can draw inward without brooding, and come up with something sweet instead of sentimental.