OTHERWORLDS
Nancy Spero & Kiki Smith
Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art
13 December 2003 – 18 April 2004
From two different generations, Nancy Spero (b.1926 Cleveland, Ohio) and Kiki Smith (b.1954 Nuremberg, W.Germany) share a history in feminism and an experience of the New York art world. Working in an essentially figurative style and sharing a visual language rooted in the female body, Spero and Smith’s art addresses issues of the feminine across cultures and mythologies. This exhibition drew attention to thematic, cultural and physical affinities existing in the work of these two artists.
Both artists represent a carnivalesque exploration and celebration of the feminine, from victimisation to liberation, freedom and desire. Sculptural and wall based pieces were interspersed across three floors, presenting works of great variety, subtlety, beauty and power.
The show presented most of Spero’s major works including her signature-style scrolls, which combine images and texts with some extending over 200 feet, as well as two decades of key sculptural female figures by Kiki Smith.
This was the first time these two artists had been shown together and the intention was to create a dialogue between their works through the themes of: the body, myth, the sacred and the profane, and the decorative. Otherworlds formed the largest presentation of the artists’ work to date.
