"Ethics Excess Extinction" at El Paso Museum of Art

Kiki Smith - Congregation, 2014
Jacquard tapestry, 116 x 76 in. Edition of 10
Opening January 26, 2018 at the El Paso Museum of Art and curated by Randy Jayne Rosenberg of Art Works for Change, "Ethics Excess Extinction" features contemporary artists exploring the theme of endangered animal species:

The exhibition explores the reality of animal life: cruelty towards animals as seen through factory farming; the breeding of animals for their hides and fur; hunting animals for their potential medicinal powers; and an alternative vision of the world where all animals are respected and protected from suffering and commercial exploitation. The artists examine the many sides of the story: from the philosophical, where animals are regarded as emotional beings in which we recognize ourselves, to the economic, where animals are killed and sold to support the demands of luxury markets.

Kiki Smith - Earth, 2012
Jacquard tapestry, 116 x 75 in. Edition of 10
Participating artists include Kiki Smith, Chris Jordan, Esther Traugot, and Nick Brandt, who variously use poetry, humor, technology, and scale to explore the plight of endangered animals and our relationship to them. Artworks range from three tapestries by Smith (published by Magnolia Editions) to large-scale photographs to literal “white elephants” in the room created by Miami sculptor Billie Grace Lynn.

For more information on the exhibition, please visit Art Works for Change.

Kiki Smith - Sojourn, 2015
Jacquard tapestry, 116 x 76 in. Edition of 10

Kiki Smith at Thomas Cole House, Catskill, NY

click to enlarge invitation
"Kiki Smith: From the Creek" opens this Saturday, August 12, 2017 at the Thomas Cole House, a National Historic Landmark that includes the home and the studio of painter Thomas Cole, founder of the Hudson River School of American painting.

In "From the Creek," Smith worked with curator Kate Menconeri to site over 25 artworks inside and outside of the 200-year-old home, including recent prints, life-sized bronze sculptures, and Jacquard tapestries published by Magnolia Editions.

A reception and preview with the artist will be held August 12 from 5 to 7 pm; please RSVP by August 8 to info@thomascole.org.

Kiki Smith and Chuck Close at Pace Gallery

Fortune (2014), a new tapestry edition by Kiki Smith published by Magnolia Editions and currently on view at Pace Gallery.
Four new tapestry editions by Kiki Smith will make their debut as part of "Kiki Smith: Wonder," opening at Pace Gallery at 510 West 25th Street in New York this Friday, February 28, 2014. The exhibition, says the gallery, "presents the artist’s investigation of the natural and spiritual worlds through works made of aluminum, bronze, fine silver, textile, stained and hand-blown antique glass, and paint."

Spinners (2014), a new tapestry edition by Kiki Smith published by Magnolia Editions and currently on view at Pace Gallery.

Detail from Spinners (2014)
Several works in the show refer to the transition from winter to spring via the motif of hoarfrost, the natural crystallization of water vapor, which appears throughout "Wonder" in various forms ranging from silver and stainless steel sculptures (up to 13 feet in size!) to the eponymous tapestry edition Hoarfrost.

The artist was still putting the finishing touches on her new tapestries by hand as the show was being installed; those lucky enough to attend the opening were the first to see these editions.

Kiki Smith adds hand-painted details to tapestries at Pace Gallery; photo by Donald Farnsworth.

Kiki Smith adds hand-painted details to tapestries at Pace Gallery; photo by Donald Farnsworth.
"Kiki Smith: Wonder" is the artist’s first major New York gallery show in four years and marks the twentieth anniversary of Smith’s first solo exhibition at the Pace Gallery.

Congregation (2014), a new tapestry edition by Kiki Smith published by Magnolia Editions and currently on view at Pace Gallery.
Opening the same night and running concurrently (through March 29) at Pace's 534 West 25th Street location around the corner, "Chuck Close: Nudes 1967-2014" presents a survey of Close's Polaroids and daguerreotypes of friends and strangers in the buff, as well as the 10 by 21 foot Big Nude, a 1967 painting on loan from a private collection and never before exhibited publicly in New York.

For more details on both shows, please visit Pace Gallery's website.

More art by Kiki Smith at Magnolia Editions

More art by Chuck Close at Magnolia Editions