Why Did Niki Sculpt Animals?

On Guide: n16
Sculpture: Seals
Location: Shapleigh Fountain


Niki said that for many years, a good deal of her work was concerned with bringing joy, color, and an aggressive humor and fantasy to life.

Nikis playful animals were part of her vision of sculpture committed to bringing joy. The colorful mosaics that cover them appeal to both the eye and the body. Niki felt it was very important that both adults and children interact with her sculptures. She loved to see children climb on these animals. Feel free to touch, sit, crawl on, or enter them. Their edges are rounded so that kids can climb on them safely. The concave lap of Cat (n14) is an intimate refuge in which you can curl up.

Nikigator, Seals, Guardian Lions, and Cat descend from the mosaic animals with which Niki surrounded the artist Mario Bottas Ark in their collaborative interpretation of the Noahs Ark story, at the childrens zoo in Jerusalem.