My memory of Niki: Marcelo Zitelli

Sculpture: Bird Head Totem
On Guide: n6
Location: Gladney Rose Garden
 
My name is Marcelo Zitelli. I worked with Niki the last 16 years of her life and now I am a trustee of the Niki Charitable Art Foundation.

I met Niki in 1987 and I found a very open and charming person. Even if I was shy, she talked to me like an equal, someone who was able to work directly with her. Right away we had a very good relationship, and our relationship was based on our love of theatre. She wanted to be an actress when she was very young, and I, too, was in theatre. And Niki's work is always about telling a story.

When I met her, she was very upset about one sculpture that she wanted to do, but the studio that she normally worked with was unavailable. I told her I was willing to try, and Niki said, "OK, you have a month to do the sculpture," and I finished in 10 days. So Niki said to quit working on my other project.

When we began working together in the studio, Niki needed to change the way she worked, which was to create a small model, then send it to a studio to be enlarged. Instead of sending the works someplace else, we built medium- and large-sized sculptures together in the studio.

Niki was always concerned about the people who needed more attention in society, like women, Native Americans and African Americans. That's why, in her work, she was always trying to bring justice to those who were not recognized by the powerful members of society.

We see this in her work with the Black Heroes. This body of her work was born from an article in the New York Times that downplayed the importance of black jazz musicians. Niki was angry about that. That's how Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis came to be represented in her art.

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