Watts Towers

Most lists of the best outsider art environments include Watts Towers. That's why it was one of our first stops after arriving in LAX. By the way, I am in LA with my mom. She is here for business next week (and to be dragged around by me before then). We also picked up Lori, a friend from Denver who happens to be in LA too, and then we all headed for Watts district. Notorious for being a "bad" area of town, Watts didn't seem to bad to me.


This is me next to a little guy- Simon Rodia, who was the artist of the towers. Supposedly the cardboard cutout of him is an actual life size depiction. He makes me look big.


He created the towers out of rebar, coat hangers, concrete and broken discarded glass. No nails, no bolts, no soldering. The tallest tower is 99.5 feet tall because the city at the time required that no structure be more than 100ft.


This is considered an "outsider art environment" because Rodia had no art training and made no money off of his work. A theme I am beginning to notice among the outsider artists is their use of trash as an art medium. They don't shop at the typical art store. I think this is why I am drawn to the outsider's art- become it takes something discarded, unwanted and broken and combines it with other items of it's kind to create something beautiful. That has a powerful symbolic message pertaining to God and people.





This is the view from down the street- a regular residential area. Many of the neighbors' homes included murals and mosaics leading me to wander if Rodia's visionary art inspired those around him.

I don't feel like this blog post was very good.


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