Michael Smith, “Excuse me!?!...I’m looking for the 'Fountain of Youth’”

Smith is usually associated with the “Pictures Generation” that emerged in the late 1970s (he was included in the Met 2009 survey of same), but since his projects have involved writing and producing as much as anything art-related, it’s fairer to described him as the star/auteur/show runner of a longstanding TV anthology series, existing mostly in his imagination, that leaps occasionally into the real world via performances and videos. The results are invariable hilarious but also poignant in the way they revolve around hapless characters—lost souls trying to make sense of a senseless world. Among them are Smith’s alter egos: Mike, an everyman sad sack prone to self-delusion; and Baby Ikki, a grown-up infant in a diaper and bonnet who represents his unleashed id. In his latest show, the two join forces in a quest for the secret of youth, an existential journey depicted in a six-channel video installation, a handwoven tapestry and other sculptures, drawings and photos. In Smith’s scenarios, such goals are usually presented as windmills to be tilted at with predictable failure. The comedy—and pathos—of his work lies in the fact that his protagonists never seem to realize it.