File:Michael Smith Voyage production still 2009.jpg

Production still by Mike Kelley and Michael Smith, A Voyage of Growth and Discovery, Production still, 2009.). The image illustrates a major, long-running body of performances, videos and installations by Michael Smith in guise of the recurring persona, "Baby Ikki," an oversized, pre-linguistic, genderless infant performed with impulsive, precisely mimicked movements. This work was part of a multimedia collaboration with artist Mike Kelley, featuring Baby Ikki at Burning Man. The project combined aspects of both artists' past work—dancing, dressing up, infantilism—with the festival's ethos of weeklong "radical self- expression, and included large sculpture and skeletal metal playground structures and projected video of Ikki at the festival, playing tetherball, dancing, and interacting amid the mass of people. Smith's "Ikki" works have been publicly exhibited in prominent venues, discussed in major art journals and daily press publications, and commissioned by major art institutions.

Artist Michael Smith. Copyright held by the artist.

Michael Smith (performance artist)

Production still

Yes

The image serves an informational and educational purpose as the primary means of illustrating a major body of work from throughout Michael Smith's career: his performances, videos and installations in guise of a recurring performance persona, "Baby Ikki." The character has been described as an oversized infant that is pre-linguistic, genderless and gorilla-like, with conspicuous facial hair, oversized diapers, a bonnet and undersized sunglasses. It was first created in 1975 in Chicago and has been performed by Smith with a tensed body and impulsive, precisely mimicked movements that elicited a combination of repulsion and concern and encourage audience interaction. Because the article is about an artist and his work, the omission of the image would significantly limit a reader's understanding and ability to understand this major body of work, which brought Smith additional recognition through exhibitions and performances in major venues and coverage by major critics and publications. Smith's work of this type and this series is discussed in the article and by critics cited in the article.

There is no free equivalent of this or any other of this series by Michael Smith, so the image cannot be replaced by a free image.

The image will not affect the value of the original work or limit the copyright holder's rights or ability to distribute the original due to its low resolution and the general workings of the art market, which values the actual work of art. Because of the low resolution, illegal copies could not be made.