Coloring outside the lines

December 8
Kiki Smith, Untitled, 1990. Beeswax and microcrystalline wax figures on metal stands: female figure, 73 1/2 in. (186.7 cm) high; male figure, 76 15/16 (195.4 cm) high. Whitney Museum of Art, New York. Kiki Smith is an amazing artist who is not only interested in the human body, but also the question of who controls it. Who better to talk about this piece than the artist herself? “Most of the functions of the body are hidden…from society…We separate our bodies from our lives. But, when people are dying, they are losing control of their bodies. That loss of function can seem humiliating and frightening. But, on the other hand, you can look at it as a kind of liberation of the body. It seems like a nice metaphor—a way to think about the social—that people lose control despite the many agendas of different ideologies in society, which are trying to control the body…medicine, religion, law, etc. Just thinking about control—who has control of the body? Does the mind have control of the body? Does the social?”

Kiki Smith, Untitled, 1990. Beeswax and microcrystalline wax figures on metal stands: female figure, 73 1/2 in. (186.7 cm) high; male figure, 76 15/16 (195.4 cm) high. Whitney Museum of Art, New York.

Kiki Smith is an amazing artist who is not only interested in the human body, but also the question of who controls it. Who better to talk about this piece than the artist herself?

“Most of the functions of the body are hidden…from society…We separate our bodies from our lives. But, when people are dying, they are losing control of their bodies. That loss of function can seem humiliating and frightening. But, on the other hand, you can look at it as a kind of liberation of the body. It seems like a nice metaphor—a way to think about the social—that people lose control despite the many agendas of different ideologies in society, which are trying to control the body…medicine, religion, law, etc. Just thinking about control—who has control of the body? Does the mind have control of the body? Does the social?”