Sun God (statue)

Sculpture


title = Sun God
artist = Niki de Saint Phalle
year = 1983
type = Fiberglass with cement base
height = 884
city = San Diego
museum = University of California

Sun God is a statue by French sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle located on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. The statue is a 14-foot multicolored bird-like creature, perched atop a 15-foot-tall horseshoe-shaped rock pedestal.

Erected in February 1983 as a part of the Stuart Collection of public art projects, the fiberglass Sun God has become a unique feature on the UCSD campus. It is located on a grassy area between the Faculty Club and Mandeville Auditorium, on the eastern periphery of the John Muir College campus. Since the 1980s the UCSD Associated Students organization has sponsored an annual event, the Sun God Festival, with the statue as its official mascot. Over the years numerous visual-arts students have accessorized the statue with items such as sunglasses, a cap and gown, an ID card, a large working phallus, and even a nest with eggs painted in the statue's trademark bright colors.

In the initial days when the statue was available, no college volunteered to use it, Muir College accepted it in it's campus.

External links

* [http://stuartcollection.ucsd.edu/ Stuart Collection]
* [http://stuartcollection.ucsd.edu/StuartCollection/Phalle.htm Sun God]
* [http://alumni.ucsd.edu/magazine/vol3no2/features/sungod.htm @UCSD: Celebrating our Sun God]