Niki de Saint Phalle. “Tarot Garden”. 1991. Lithograph, 23.7 x 31.5″ (60.3 x 80 cm). © 2020 NIKI CHARITABLE ART FOUNDATION.
Photo: Ed Kessler.
Niki de Saint Phalle: Structures for Life On view from April 5 to September 7, 2020, ‘Niki de Saint Phalle: Structures for Life’ features over 100 works created from the 1970s until the artist’s death.]]>
Source: MoMA PS1
Highlighting Saint Phalle’s interdisciplinary approach and engagement with key social and political issues, the exhibition focuses on works that she created to transform environments, individuals, and society.
Early in her career, Saint Phalle pushed against accepted artistic practices, creating work that used assemblage and performative modes of production. Collaboration was always central to her work, including several co-authored sculptures made with the artist Jean Tinguely. Beginning in the late 1960s, Saint Phalle started making large-scale sculptures, which led to an expansion of her practice into architectural projects, sculpture gardens, books, prints, films, theater sets, clothing, jewelry, and, famously, her own perfume. From this period forward, Saint Phalle also created a series of innovative works that reflect an ethos of collaboration and engagement with the politics of social space. Addressing subjects that ranged from women’s rights to climate change and HIV/AIDS awareness, Saint Phalle was often at the vanguard in addressing the social and political issues of her time. Her illustrated book, “AIDS: You Can’t Catch It Holding Hands” (1986), written in collaboration with Dr. Silvio Barandun, worked to destigmatize the disease and was translated into six languages.
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