Respond: Article (Art Criticism and Education)

The principal aim of this article is what art criticism is and how to describe it. To criticize well, we begin to comprehend art criticism itself. This article brings to us the first step to understand what art criticism is, by using description about types, examples and history of art criticism.



Respond: Art 21 (Kiki Smith)

Kiki Smith is the most interested artist among Art 21 artists. My first impression of her works is just grotesque and erotic. However, her works appeal to me what death and birth are, regeneration. She is interested in the relationship of human and nature. She contains a lot of metaphor about social issues, especially women in her works. Also, her works look like storytelling. I am strongly interested in a metaphor in her works. That is why I chose Kiki Smith.


Kiki Smith is one of the most famous sculptors in the world. She is an American artist classified as a feminist artist, a movement with beginnings in the 20th century. Her works’ character is human bodies and animals. Human bodies are her original, narrative women. Animals are very precise. She embodies her feelings with humans and animals. Her works often black and white sculptures and prints. Black and white colors are very strong color. These colors strongly appeals to audience. A black sculpture, Tied to Her Nature, strongly impressed me. This sculpture is that a girl and a goat are tied on a tread. They look like holding each other and sex. I think a goat represents a man and a girl symbolizes a metaphor as a woman’s week position in a society. Also, her work, Born, is interesting. This work is a representation of a small deer giving birth to a life-size woman. This situation is very weird. This works allude to the recently complex and difficult relationship of human and nature. Also, she is interested in death, such as Crow.


Her works are a little difficult for me to understand what she thinks and what her theme is. However, once her theme is realized, I can image her works’ stories. And, She uses a metaphor. That is exactly why I understand her works.