Kiki Smith & Wolf
The pair as depicted in Lying with the Wolf, however, seems locked in a more intimate embrace, as the wolf nuzzles affectionately into the nude woman’s arms. She wraps herself around the animal’s body in a gesture of comforting, her fingers stroking the soft fur beneath its ears and along the side of its stomach. The wolf’s wildness is tamed, and both figures seem to nurture one another, floating within the abstract space of the textured paper surface upon which they are delicately drawn.
Smith imbues a story that is normally quite violent with a kind of tenderness that is characteristic of her overall aesthetic. The artistic narratives portrayed in her work are ones in which binaries are flipped and opposing qualities are merged; in so doing, Smith asserts a critical feminist position that favors the articulation of multiple meanings. In a sense, this has had a huge impact on my creation of new and powerful female characters, and I will continue this new role to continue the story of “Hey Babe! " .