HOUSTON, TEXAS.- The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston presents Kiki Smith: A Gathering, 1980-2005, the first full-scale museum survey of Smith’s work over the past 25 years. The exhibition will open with a public preview on Friday, July 21, from 9:00 to 11:00 p.m. and be on view from July 22 to September 24, 2006.

Over the past 25 years, Smith has explored the body and the human condition through the prisms of natural science, mythology, art history, feminist doctrine, and spirituality. Using a diverse array of materials and methods ranging from traditional craftwork to prints to contemporary multimedia installations, she depicts the humility and surprising beauty in human life. Kiki Smith: A Gathering, 1980-2005 presents over 100 works of art in a broad variety of media, including sculpture in plaster, bronze, paper, glass, porcelain, beeswax, and papier-mâché; prints, artist’s books and other multiples; photographs; works on paper; installations; and film and video projects.

“Kiki Smith has long been an imaginative and influential contributor to the world of contemporary art,” said Contemporary Arts Museum Houston Director Marti Mayo. “Smith’s use of the body as subject for matter-of-fact depictions of the human condition underscores her highly personal and perceptive view of the world using a broad range of subject matter. As a forum for the understanding and enjoyment of contemporary art, we are proud to present this comprehensive survey of Smith’s work to our diverse regional, national and international audiences.”

Smith is an important innovator in the area of figurative sculpture, and the exhibition features work from each phase of her career to date: body fragments that call attention to the fragility of our physical existence such as Ribs (1987), terracotta ‘bones’ suspended in mid-air, and Shield (1988), a pregnant belly cast in plaster; as well as craft-inspired pieces such as Nervous Giants (1986-1987), panels of muslin fabric embroidered with anatomical embellishments. It also includes work from the early 1990s in which Smith moved from investigations of organs and systems to complete, life-sized figures such as Lilith (1994), a bronze sculpture depicting Adam’s first wife from Hebrew legend. The sculpture, with its eerily human-like glass eyes peering from the dark patina of the face, seems to crawl, insect-like, across the wall.

Themes from the natural world play a significant role in Smith’s art, and many works in the exhibition are based on landscape, the cosmos, and the historical and spiritual connections between humans and animals. A wide array of creatures the artist sees as symbolic or significant are depicted in her work, including birds, wolves, deer, cats, owls, bats, mice and other creatures from the context of religion, literature, and folklore. A Gathering presents Smith’s recent work referencing these themes, such as Rapture (2001). This bronze sculpture of a woman stepping unscathed from a wolf carcass draws from the story of Red Riding Hood and highlights the human-animal connection.

A special section of the exhibition is curated and installed by Smith herself as a wunderkammer, or “cabinet of wonders.” It showcases an eclectic collection of small works in vitrines and wall cases, and larger sculpture and prints, many of which have never been previously shown together.

Kiki Smith was born in 1954 to opera singer Jane Smith and artist Tony Smith, who encouraged her creativity from a young age. Smith moved to New York City in 1976 following a year at the Hartford Art School. She worked at a variety of jobs to support herself but soon became involved with Collaborative Projects, Inc. (CoLab), an artist cooperative, and later trained as an EMT, which heightened her interest in the body as subject. Smith currently lives and works in Manhattan.

Kiki Smith: A Gathering, 1980-2005 is organized by Siri Engberg, curator, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, in close collaboration with the artist. The exhibition is accompanied by a 312-page, fully illustrated catalogue containing critical essays by Engberg, art historian Linda Nochlin, and mythologist Marina Warner; and an interview with Smith by novelist Lynne Tillman. The catalogue also includes the first comprehensive illustrated chronology of Smith’s life and work and Thicket (2005), a 16-page photographic work by Smith as an insert in the book.

Kiki Smith: A Gathering, 1980-2005 is organized by the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and is made possible by generous support from the Elizabeth A. Sackler Museum Educational Trust. Additional support is provided by Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro, the Barbara Lee Family Foundation, Lowry Hill Private Wealth Management, and Donna Miller.

Kiki Smith and Siri Engberg will conduct a dialogue and tour of the exhibition on Saturday, July 22, 2006, at 2:00 p.m. Additional education programs for adults, families and schools will accompany the exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. For more information on public programs, please call (713) 284-8257. Exhibitions presented in The Brown Foundation Gallery are supported by the patrons, benefactors, and donors to the Museum's Major Exhibition Fund: Major Patrons—Eddie and Chinhui Allen and Fayez Sarofim. Patrons—Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Ballard; Mr. and Mrs. I.H. Kempner III; Ms. Louisa Stude Sarofim; Stephen and Ellen Susman; Vitol SA, Inc.; and Mr. And Mrs. Michael Zilkha. Benefactors—Robert J. Card, M.D./Karol Kreymer; George and Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation; Jackson Hicks/Jackson and Company; Elizabeth Howard; Rob and Louise Jamail; King & Spalding L.L.P.; Leigh and Reggie Smith; the Susan Vaughan Foundation; and Mr. and Mrs. Wallace S. Wilson. Donors— Baker Botts L.L.P.; The Citigroup Private Bank; Cathy and Andrew Echols; Barbara and Michael Gamson; KPMG LLP; Judy and Scott Nyquist; Karen and Eric Pulaski; David I. Saperstein; Jeff Shankman; and Karen and Harry Susman.