Yvette Kaiser Smith

Lives and works in Chicago, IL, USA

Artist statement

My practice involves dialogues with material, formalism, mathematics, history, culture, and contemporary circumstance. I create wall-based, mixed-media, geometric abstractions, where values of digits from the numbers pi and e, significant dates, or architectural footprints, direct a composition’s formal structure. Using a variety of industrial felts, recent works combine languages of sculpture, embroidery, and weaving; and may allude to painting, drawing, or tapestry. At home, expressions focus on math, geometry, language of the material, and discovery of new forms. During international residencies, the dialogues with material, formalism, and mathematics expand with influence of specific histories and cultures. They begin as responses to some detail or specificity of a place. Inspiration comes from walking the streets, local cultural institutions, historical events, phrases from a book, a map, or an architectural element.

Artwork