Meditate with Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002)

“The colors are actually black sadness that is giving up in the arlequin to make sure that we do not recognize them: a despair that would like to pass incognito.” In a fictionalized biography, Caroline Deyns evokes the fate of the Franco-American sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle.

Her real first name Catherine, the one who was going to become a recognized artist grew up in a wealthy, but dysfunctional aristocratic family. Parental violence suffered, Niki will bring back a militant and committed art in return, denouncing by the multiplication of colored symbols and delusional mythical figures the violence of systems that humiliate women, minorities, AIDS patients, etc.

Many snakes and other strange animals thus haunt his work, evoking, to those who want to understand it, the past and its “black sadness”. Here, this small carved spindle is a fascinating “Arlequin” snake ready to leap, multiplying colors and inlays like Catalan mosaics. But the blue head prohibits any illusion: it is not a jewel, rather a protective grigri.

Like this bronze serpent that Moses had raised on a stick to heal his people from his perils. His wide open mouth also seems to evoke this “speaking snake”, a strange creature of Eden, which arises from shadow and lie. But, beyond these necessary struggles, for Niki, nature is also console, evoking possible harmony when its maternal, feminine part takes over. Far from the bite, life is still possible.