At high noon on Sunday, 22 January 2012, the PST Performance and Public Art Festival in Los Angeles will stage “Tirs: Reloaded,” an hommage to Niki de Saint Phalle commemorating an extraordinary event that took place fifty years earlier.
Flashback to Los Angeles, spring 1962: Invited to California by legendary gallerist Virginia Dwan, nouveau réaliste artist Niki de Saint Phalle realizes the tirs (“shooting paintings”) with her partner, Swiss artist Jean Tinguely, for the first time in the United States. In front of a crowd that includes John Cage, Ed Ruscha, Jane Fonda, and Leo Castelli, Niki creates assemblages of disparate objects and bladders of paint which, when shot, transform spontaneously into wild dispersions of colors and textures.
To commemorate this art-historical happening, contemporary artists Sterling Ruby, Melanie Schiff, and others will shoot up new work at a special event to be held at midday on Sunday 22 January 2012. Due to the nature of this performance, this event is invitation-only — but check back following the festival to see documentation from the event on the festival web site. Of course, if you’re in L.A. during the festival, you might want to check the whole show out for yourself. Organized by the California/International Art Foundation, it runs from 19–29 January 2012. For details, download the festival program. [PDF]