While some museums are closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Apollo’s usual weekly pick of exhibitions will include shows at institutions that are currently open as well as digital projects providing virtual access to art and culture.
This is the first museum show in New York dedicated to Niki de Saint Phalle, who – whether she was shooting a gun at a canvas or creating her own perfume – consistently experimented with new ways of making art. The focus of this exhibition is the large-scale public sculptures and architectural projects which show Saint Phalle at perhaps her most ambitious, culminating in the fantastical Tarot Garden she built in the Tuscan hills. For the French-American artist, the purpose behind these projects was to create spaces ‘where you could have a new kind of life, to just be free’. The exhibition, which runs from 11 March–6 September, also explores Saint Phalle’s lifelong commitment to social causes, including gender equality and Aids awareness. Find out more from MoMA’s website – and for more on the Tarot Garden, read Jo Lawson-Tancred’s account of her visit for Apollo.
Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary here
Tir neuf trous—Edition MAT (1965), Niki de Saint Phalle. Photo: NCAF Archives; © 2021 Niki Charitable Art Foundation
La fontaine Stravinsky (c. 1983), Niki de Saint Phalle. Photo: Green Moon Marketing; © 2021 Niki Charitable Art Foundation
Global Warming (2001), Niki de Saint Phalle. Photo: NCAF Archives; © 2021 Niki Charitable Art Foundation
Tarot Garden (1991), Niki de Saint Phalle. Photo: Ed Kessler; © 2021 Niki Charitable Art Foundation
The interior of the Empress in Niki de Saint Phalle’s Tarot Garden in Garavicchio. Photo: Peter Granser; © Fondazione Il Giardino Dei Tarocchi