Unnatural Nature

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REDOING 10 acres occupied 15 years to complete privilege associated with commodity culture exchange positions with abandoned spaces and junk. I first visited Noah Purifoy’s Outdoor Museum in 2006, two years after his death. I took my Art Center class, called “Studio Visits,” on a field trip. We started in Joshua Tree, at Andrea Zittel’s home and studio and the High Desert Test Site (HDTS) headquarters. Zittel took us to visit Purifoy’s museum, which is in close proximity to HDTS both physically and in spirit. I wanted my students to see examples of artists who have forged ways to exist that aren’t fueled by a standard recipe for professionalism or the art market, that are predicated on experimentation, and that privilege the work in situ creating its own context. PURIFOY Outdoor Museum Purifoy’s museum site and his creative process seem boundless, like embodiments of the idea of the Wild West. Correspondingly, the artist chose to work with the natural elements, rather than perceiving their limitations. I can relate to some aspects of Purifoy’s outdoor situation and the necessity for resourcefulness. I split my time between an urban storefront studio and an abandoned and repurposed solar-powered swimming pool studio in Topanga Canyon. Sunk into the ground, the pool has a deep end, which is leveled with a wood platform, and a shallow end, which is sloped, and it is extended and enclosed with a cobbled together structure of found wood and windows. Birds build nests in the pool, and I just have to share the space with them. Branches, palm fronds and bamboo have often become my materials because they are available. Heat guns and sewing machines pull too much solar power to operate. Structures decay due to the weather. Time slows down and the light slowly changes quality. In an open-air work-space, one becomes aware of the larger timescales found in nature. The outdoors is a place to think and work without the usual distractions. I envision Purifoy having a similar experience in the desert. Perhaps this attitude toward the things one can’t control contributes to his works’ playfulness and humor. I remember one of my students playing with Purifoy’s giant Newton’s Cradle, a line of spheres (bowling balls) suspended from a rod in a row. Once activated, the balls smacked against each other rhythmically in a pendular fashion. Perversely, it became the timekeeper for the space. Of course, the sun-weathered bowling balls also display the trace of actual time, unmeasured and unregimented. There is a sense of promise in the decay and trash. 45
RE SHAP ING EDWARD BURTYNKSY Shipbreaking / Chittagong BD / 2000
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Page 24 and 25: REFLECTING 23 MUNRO Field of Light
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Page 32 and 33: REGATHERING 31 GUNERIUSSEN A Charge
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Page 36 and 37: REGATHERING 75 desk lamps 150 phone
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Page 40 and 41: NOAH PURIFOY PURIFOY desert structu
Page 42 and 43: REDOING 41 PURIFOY No Contest / Jos
Page 44 and 45: REDOING PURIFOY From the Point of V
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Page 50 and 51: RESHAPING Christo: Yes, of course.
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Page 56 and 57: RESHAPING CHRISTO Running Fence / S
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Page 63 and 64: 70 volunteers 2,000 hours DOUGHERTY
Page 65 and 66: DOUGHERTY Monks’ Cradle / College
Page 67 and 68: Patrick Dougherty is best known for
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Page 77 and 78: WASTESCAPE Our contemporary fascina
Page 79 and 80: BURTYNKSY Nickel Tailings / Sudbury
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Unnatural Nature

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