Tag: glass

Kiki Smith, Heute, 2008

“Ms. Smith, whose younger sister Beatrice died with AIDS in 1988, has long been fixated on the fragility of the human body. In her 2008 sculpture “Heute (Now),” left, on view in Ms. Smith’s Brooklyn Museum show, a coffin in unfinished knotty pine holds meticulous lamp-worked glass dandelions, produced by the glass artist David Willis, sprouting from its interior. (It also represents another thread that has run through her work for decades: an interest in unusual juxtapositions of materials.) Although the date of the work corresponds to the 20th anniversary of her sister’s death, Ms. Smith said she was not conscious of this when she made it; rather, the piece speaks to her fascination with natural-world cycles of death and renewal.”

—NY Times 

Robert Smithson, Mirror and Crushed Shells 1969

On July 9, 1969, Robert Smithson wrote the following letter to Andy Warhol about “A Mirror and Crushed Shells”:

Dear Andy,
This is to certify that A Mirror with Crushed Shells (Sanibel Island) is an original work of art. It consists of three mirrors which may be restored if broken, and one burlap bag of crushed shells collected by the artist at Sanibel Island, April, 1969. If any shells are ever lost, the owner has the right to restore the work by collecting more shells from Sanibel Island (northern part of islansd; see map of site which is part of the work). The three mirrors are held in place in a corner by the pressure of the shells only. (See photo). The work is owned by Andy Warhol. 

Robert Smithson, Detail of Mirror and Crushed Shells showing map of Sanibel Island, Florida