Yvette Kaiser Smith

12 December 2019 Artists from Czech Republic Artists from United States Geometric Abstraction

yvette@kaisersmith.com

Bio

Currently a resident of Chicago, Yvette Kaiser Smith was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1958, and immigrated with family to Dallas, Texas in 1969. Her 1990 BFA from Southern Methodist University focused on sculpture and photography. Since receiving an MFA in Sculpture from University of Chicago in 1994, Yvette has exhibited extensively at regional museums, art centers, and university galleries throughout the United States. Exhibitions abroad include U.S. Embassies in Moscow, Ankara, and Abuja; National Art Museum of China in Beijing; alternative galleries in London, Rome, Berlin, Jena Germany, and Veliko Turnovo Bulgaria. In 2005 she began working with art consulting firms, galleries, and individual clients to create site-specific commissions which include Facebook Chicago, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, and San Diego Manchester Hyatt.

Art Statement

I am an artist who uses numbers. I create geometric abstractions by using sequences from the numbers pi and e, grids, and repetition of simple geometric shapes as tools in devising systems for mapping and visualizing numerical values. Numbers in specific sequences are always the works’ referent, their source of abstraction, their structural foundation.

In 2016, I was introduced to a laser cutter and have since focused on developing a body of wall-based works, using laser-cut acrylic sheets separated by vinyl spacers. Prior to this, I spent over 20 years creating large works by crocheting fiberglass that was formed by adding polyester resin, a labor-intensive process that engaged my hands at every stage. The new work has almost completely removed my hand or the sense of my hand from the final product. All the 2016, 2017, and 2018 work with acrylic sheet was designed in Photoshop, plotted in Illustrator, and created entirely on a laser cutter.

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