image DAY 288 UNEXPECTED ART FORMS

Junk Art in the Desert

THE CONSTRUCTIONS AND COLLAGES OF NOAH PURIFOY

 

In the later decades of his life, Noah Purifoy became known for his assemblage sculptures created in the vast southern Californian desert. He was experienced in the use of objets trouvés (“found objects,” or junk art), having gained notoriety for creating “66 Signs of Neon” out of the wreckage of the 1965 Watts riots in Los Angeles.35

 

After relocating from Los Angeles to the rural town of Joshua Tree, the artist found a clean, virgin canvas of desert land. (Ironically, he initially had a difficult time finding junk with which to sculpt, ...

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