Wednesday, December 26, 2012

East Jesus



As the largest art installation in Slab City, East Jesus, an artist colony, begs to be discovered.  It’s a little off the beaten path but well worth the visit.  The ever-changing group that works here are completely self-contained, relying on the sun to power their existence.  The late Charles Russell created East Jesus in 2006 and described his vision in this way.
Wedged between the Chocolate Mountain Gunnery Range and the Salton Sea in southern California's exotic Imperial Valley, East Jesus is an experimental, comprehensive habitat and artwork comprising vernacular architecture, technophilia, common-sense environmentalism, desert survival and sculpture/assemblage using predominantly recycled, re-purposed or discarded materials, sublimating the unwanted and ugly into the purposefully beautiful. The main structure is built around a 27' fiberglass shipping container, extended by walls composed of junk (lockers, computers, refrigerators, microwave ovens, bookshelves, tool chests, shipping crates, TVs and other electronics) and recycled, re-used lumber and steel.


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