Sun God, Outdoor sculpture at University of California San Diego campus, US

Sun God is a 14-foot multicolored bird-like creature by Niki de Saint Phalle, made of painted polyester and fiberglass and perched atop a 15-foot arch-shaped, vine-covered concrete pedestal. It stands on a grassy area between the Faculty Club and Mandeville Auditorium, east of John Muir and Sixth Colleges on the UC San Diego campus in La Jolla.

Sun God was commissioned from Niki de Saint Phalle and inaugurated in 1983 as the first work of the Stuart Collection, the open-air public art programme at the University of California, San Diego. At the time she was little recognised in France, where critics saw her as a follower of Jean Tinguely, while about fifteen of her works already hung in American museums. The collection grew to 18 works by 18 artists between 1983 and 2012.

The sculpture serves as a gathering place where students and visitors naturally congregate, especially during the annual spring festival that has become a defining campus tradition. People use this space to connect, celebrate and photograph, making it a social hub within the university grounds.

Sun God stands on a grassy area between the Faculty Club and Mandeville Auditorium, east of John Muir and Sixth Colleges. The 14-foot bird sits atop a 15-foot vine-covered concrete arch, so the painted fiberglass is best seen from ground level on the surrounding lawn.

Students have repeatedly dressed the bird in accessories: sunglasses, a cap and gown, an ID card, a large water-spraying phallus, and a nest of eggs painted in its bright colours. The French Wikipedia notes that Niki de Saint Phalle's Firebird for the Stravinsky Fountain in Paris is a similar reduced model, built shortly after the same year.