Kiki Smith and Looking at Objects

I read a really cool interview with the artist Kiki Smith about looking at objects. Being less interested in social interactions with people and more interested in 'what people have made,' reminds me of what someone said about being awestruck at the works of great (live) writers, but disappointed at finally meeting them.

In the interview Smith says:

'The most important thing for me is looking at objects. Looking at things that people have made. I’m sort of a private person and my life isn’t so much about my social relationships to people. It’s more about looking at what people have made. Appreciating people through what they have made, or what they do, or something like that rather than having too much interaction with people. So I need to go look at things all the time. Having things is just about looking at them and then I don’t have to be so attached to them for endless quantities of time. Maybe you see something once and then it resonates in your mind for long periods of time afterwards, for years sometimes.'

I especially love the sentence:

'Appreciating people through what they have made, or what they do, or something like that rather than having too much interaction with people.'

This is not to say that we shouldn't interact with the people who have made or created beautiful objects or works of art, but rather, as Smith reminds us, that we should simply "appreciate" what stands before us and be humbled by the experience.

For the full interview see:

"Family History & the History of Objects"

http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/smith/clip2.html