Niki de Saint Phalle

Niki de Saint Phalle, Shoot-it-yourself-picture, 1964

Lean the picture against a wall and then shoot at it with a rifle “until all the pouches have been ‘bled’ (or until you like the picture).” Niki de Saint Phalle gave these instructions to those who purchased one of her Shoot-it-yourself-pictures. Each of these works contained bags of paint affixed to a board and covered in white plaster. The work was completed only once it had been riddled with bullets, causing the paint bags to explode and spatter across the white surface. With the resulting dripping paint these works allude to the dramatic gestures of Abstract Expressionism, here the paintbrush replaced with a gun and the expressive gesture of the artist with a detached act of violence. Saint Phalle’s work is unique among the Edition MAT multiples in the extreme kind of participation that it required from its audience. The enactment of the works was a raucous occasion, with the finished piece also serving as a fixed trace of the performative event.

Image credit

Niki de Saint Phalle (French, 1930–2002), Shoot-it-yourself-picture, 1964. Plaster, paint, and plastic on wood, 10/100, 28 3/4 x 21 1/4 x 2 3/4 in. (72 x 54 x 7 cm). Published by Edition MAT / Galerie Der Spiegel, Cologne. Kern Collection, Großmaischeid, Germany. © Niki Charitable Art Foundation. All rights reserved / ARS, NY / ADAGP, Paris.