On a glorious Saturday morning, Phillip King was looking for something to do, something that could withstand the energy of two young, rambunctious grandchildren.
He found it at the Garfield Park Conservatory on Chicago’s West Side, where the towering and colorful sculptures of the late artist Niki de Saint Phalle have been installed.
The swollen, fantastic figures seem made for children. They are eye-catching, studded with psychedelic stones and vibrant ceramic shards, and in many cases, they are sturdy enough to be climbed. They were, in short, just what the grandkids needed.
“They’re ripping and running and falling in the grass, looking at these strange sculptures, which I suspect might not be that strange to them,” said King, 58, of Chicago.
Some of the 30-plus sculptures, scattered through the conservatory’s greenhouses and vast lawn, have a foothold in the real world. One features an obsidian-hued basketball player, sporting the number “23” on his rainbow-colored jersey, soaring over a silver-skinned opponent. Another is a golfer pumping his fist, Tiger Woods-style.
Others are inspired by jazz musicians Miles Davis and Louis Armstrong, but the majority of the figures come straight from the realm of the imagination.
“Nature, dragons, monsters and animals have kept me in touch with the feelings I had about these things as a child,” reads a Saint Phalle quote posted near the “Serpent Tree,” a phantasmagoric pillar of twisting snakes. “I feel that the part of me that stayed a child is the artist in me.”
A sculpture dubbed “Nikigator,” an enormous smirking reptile, looks like a hippie’s fever dream, all stripes and mirrors and mosaics. A colossal, grinning skull named “La Cabeza” swirls with harlequin patterns around its eye sockets. Patrons can stroll inside and sit down, and every now and then a small child would perch in its nose cavity.
“I like it,” said Marlene Oehmig, 74, of Oak Park, who was strolling around the lawn with an out-of-town visitor. “It’s playful. It’s light-hearted. They’re all delightful somehow.”
Sam Bruhin, 27, of Buffalo Grove made the rounds of the sculptures, clicking away with his camera.
“They’re very interesting,” he said. “They’re made with a lot of fun and joy. The light is very nice with all the [reflective surfaces].”
The exhibit, titled “Niki in the Garden,” will run through Oct. 31 and is part of the city’s “Art of Play” program of family oriented activities.
Grandfather Dick Rusz, 64, of Wilmette said the sculptures lived up to that billing as he watched the children scamper around the lawn.
“I wasn’t sure about this,” he said. “But my wife thought the kids would like it, and she was right.”
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jkeilman@tribune.com
