The art, the joy, the keeper: The hidden work behind Niki de Saint Phalle's beloved mosaic sculptures

The bold, joyful sculptures of Niki de Saint Phalle are woven into San Diego’s landscape, even if many people don’t know her name. In this episode, we explore the life and legacy of the artist behind Queen Califia’s Magical Circle, the Sun God at UC San Diego and the beloved Nikigator in Balboa Park. After decades of boundary-breaking art and personal hardship, Niki came to San Diego late in life and created monumental public works designed to be experienced up close, inviting touch, play and imagination. But this story also belongs to Lech Juretko, a Polish refugee and former wallpaper installer who became Niki’s longtime assistant. He helped build her massive mosaic sculptures piece by piece.

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Niki de Saint Phalle's Nikigator is installed at the entrance of the Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park.

Julia Dixon Evans

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Niki de Saint Phalle's Nikigator weighs 5,000 pounds and the stones used come from all over the world.

Julia Dixon Evans

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Niki de Saint Phalle's Nikigator outside the Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park.

Julia Dixon Evans

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In 1981, Niki De Saint Phalle's Sun God became the first commissioned work of art in the Stuart Collection at UCSD.

Courtesy of UC San Diego

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Niki de Saint Phalle during a shooting session ("tirs séance") at Impasse Ronsin, Paris in 1962.

André Morain

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Niki de Saint Phalle's "Pirodactyl over New York" is shown in this undated photo. It is a 1962 work of paint, plaster and objects on two wood panels.

Courtesy of MCASD

"Niki was like a sponge. She swallows everybody who works for her. She just gives you more and more and more," Lech said. "If you work with somebody like Niki for so many years, this also becomes like your family."

More than 20 years after her death, he is still repairing cracked tiles and replacing missing stones, preserving artwork created for interaction and shared wonder. It’s a story about creative devotion, chosen family and the magic that happens when art leaves museum walls and becomes part of everyday life.

Julia Dixon Evans

Julia Dixon Evans

Guests:

• Lech Juretko, founder and owner of Art Mosaic, longtime assistant of artist Niki de Saint Phalle
• Jill Dawsey, PhD, senior curator at Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, co-author of "Niki de Saint Phalle in the 1960s" 

Julia Dixon Evans

Julia Dixon Evans

Sources:

• Niki de Saint Phalle: Public Works (Niki Charitable Art Foundation)
• Niki de Saint Phalle Garden Opens in Escondido (City of Escondido, 2003)
• Keeping up the legacy of Niki de Saint Phalle (Julia Dixon Evans, KPBS, 2023)
• Artist Niki de Saint Phalle's radical decade (Julia Dixon Evans, KPBS, 2022)
• The Darkness Behind Niki de Saint Phalle's Colorful Beauties (Eunice Lipton, Hyperallergic, 2015)
• "What Is Now Known Was Once Only Imagined: An (Auto)biography of Niki de Saint Phalle" (Nicole Rudick, Siglio Press, 2022)
• "Niki de Saint Phalle in the 1960s" (Jill Dawsey and Michelle White, Yale University Press, 2021)
• "Niki Who Tamed The Dragons" (Wojciech Delikta, Contemporary Lynx, 2020)
• New Realism (Center Pompidou, La Collection, Musee national d'art moderne, Pompidou Centre, Paris, 1987, and La Collection, Acquisitions, 1986-1996, Pompidou Centre, Paris, 1996)
• "My Terrific Mother" (Laura Gabriela, Tate Etc., Tate Modern, 2008)
• "Niki in the Garden" (Atlanta Botanical Garden, 2026)
• "Pop Gun Art: Niki de Saint Phalle and the Operatic Multiple" (Nichole L. Woods, Walker Art Center, Walker Living Collections Catalogue)
• "At MoMA PS1: Niki de Saint Phalle" (Lidija Haas, London Review of Books, 2021)
• Jean Tinguely, Playful Sculptor of Scrap Contraptions, Dies at 66 (New York Times, 1991)
• Niki de Saint Phalle: Le Cimetière de Montparnasse (Devon Whitehead, The Brooklyn Rail, 2018) 
• Niki de Saint Phalle's lifelong dialogue between art and diseases (Henning Zeidler, Joint Bone Spine, National Library of Medicine, 2012)
• Niki de Saint Phalle, Sculptor, Is Dead at 71 (Ken Johnson, New York Times, 2002)
• Vandals break in, smash mirrors and more in Escondido sculpture garden (Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union Tribune, 2018)
• The Keeper of Niki de Saint Phalle's Menagerie (Mingei International Museum, 2019)
• "Nikigator, 2001" (Mingei International Museum, collections)

From KPBS Public Media, The Finest is a podcast about the people, art and movements redefining culture in San Diego. Listen to it wherever you get your podcasts or click the play button at the top of this page and subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Pocket Casts, Pandora, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

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