MICHAEL SMITH / Baby Ikki at the Museum

Michael Smith
Baby Ikki at the Museum  2012 
28-page board book, 18 x 18cm
Co-published by Christine Burgin and The Whitney Museum of American Art 

Condition: New  

Formatted and designed like a children's board book, Baby Ikki at the Museum features Mike Smith's eighteen-month-old character posing in front of works of art in the Whitney Museum of American Art. He acts as a wide-eyed explorer wandering in a new world, examining and responding to works in the Museum's collection by pointing, staring, or offering quizzical looks. Lacking judgment, consideration, and caution, Baby Ikki possesses an abundance of curiosity and has an insatiable appetite for attention, even when posing with priceless works of art. Providing an entirely new angle from which to view a premier art institution, the photographs in this book are at times comedic and at others unsettling for their irreverence and perceptiveness.

Michael Smith (Mike Smith) is known for his groundbreaking work in performance art as well as his immersive mixed-media installations. Since 1979, the majority of his work has centered on his extraordinarily prescient and sympathetic character, Mike. Smith's other recurring performance persona is Baby Ikki, whose bizarre and precipitous infancy is marked by conspicuous facial hair, oversized diapers, and undersized sunglasses.

Michael Smith first appeared as Baby Ikki in 1975. Since that time, the baby has appeared on the streets, in museums, at childrens' birthdays and in newspapers and magazines around the world. Formatted and designed like a children's board book, Baby Ikki at the Museum features the eighteen-month-old character at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Lacking judgment, consideration, and caution, Baby Ikki possesses an abundance of curiosity and has an insatiable appetite for attention. A wide-eyed explorer wandering in a new world, Baby Ikki provides an entirely new perspective on a visit to the museum.