Detail

“In 1961 I shot: Papa, all men, small men, great men, important men, fat men, men, my brother, society, church, the convent, school, my family, my mother, all men, Papa, myself, men. I shot because it was fun and the feeling was great. I killed the painting, it is reborn. War without victims.” From the mid-1950s onwards, self-taught artist Niki de Saint-Phalle made plaster reliefs and material assemblages. In 1960 she joined the nouveaux réalistes and in the following year she presented her first rifle-shot-paintings in Paris. For paintings such as Tir she incorporated bags of paint and everyday objects, in this case glasses and a bread slicer, into white plaster reliefs. The paintings do not assume their final color and form until they have served as targets in shooting actions staged by the artist. The bullets smash the objects hidden under the plaster, releasing the paint. Freed from artistic control, the paint flows down and soaks the plaster surface, leaving informal colorful reliefs. Saint-Phalle grew up in a strict Catholic home, and she viewed these actions as an outlet for her aggression against the patriarchy and as an act of therapeutic self-liberation. The rifle-shot-paintings are also seen as a link between Jackson Pollock’s gestural painting and action art.