The Paradox TabernacleRobert Caldwell (1954)

Robert Caldwell was born in 1954 in an industrial town in South Carolina when cotton was king. He sent himself through college working as a weaver in a cotton mill and later worked on dairy farms which led him to relocate to southwestern Wisconsin in 1989 where he has mostly lived ever since. He taught in the Waldorf system for 8 years, graduating a class in 2007. Since 1993 he has earned his living in organic certification and continues to do so. He has 3 children, 6 grandchildren, and 2 dogs, all of whom are doing well at finding their place in existence, he says.

At 13 years old he experienced a “visitation” of sorts which set him on a path of spiritual inquiry and this became his raison d’etre in living. Shunning traditional art esthetics, he longed for a direct experience of uniting conceptual spiritual ideals with material realities through the process of allowing raw creativity to resolve the inherent paradoxes of life and love; a process which he claims has been successful. Each altar or incense burner is in itself both a question and an answer, and while neither the question nor the answer are explicitly stated, the medicine is revealed through the process itself.

“About 12 years ago I began to make altars as a way to relieve the anxiety generated from living in an existence I did not understand; an inner pilgrimage of sorts. This is not "art" per se, as there is limited traditional art aesthetic. Most of them use disparate symbols, images and words, joined together with asymmetrical construction. I consider this to be "art therapy," with me being a self-trained art therapist with a lifetime clientele of 1. Every one of these altars has a story behind it, and they are more like my needy little children who have brought a lesson for me to learn. Most of them have some sort of spiritual theme. It has been (and still is) an interesting and rewarding experience, and all of my questions about life have pretty much been answered. At the same time it has been alienating spending much of my free time in the basement combining scrap wood, thrift store finds, assorted junk, various idols, and shiny things into assemblages that have a message to express.  Forewarned; some images might be considered irreverent, and some images might not be suitable for some children. There is some "poking" at racism, sexism, materialism, and corporate religionism, among other irks, quirks, and isms. That being said, many of them have a simple message of kindness. You might see something that helps you take the next step on your journey to Freedom (if that's your idea of a good time). 

The altars in this room are (as much as I am able to allow them to be so) “three dimensional dreams” that facilitate a state of equilibrium between inner and outer levels of awareness. Using intuition as much as possible, my unconscious is allowed to speak its truth relative to “my” current understanding of existence. For me, Truth is “what is”, and in terms of phenomena, dreams and imaginations are just as “real” as material “things”…perhaps more-so, as claimed not only by ancient vedic texts, but by modern quantum physics as well. Creating altars is a safe way to encounter the inner world. Emptiness is the womb of creativity," says Caldwell of his practice.

Roberts’s house is enshrined with over 600 altars. The basement is the primary underworld showcase with the first & second floors also vastly arrayed with altars. The Paradox Tabernacle is only open by appointment. Contact Caldwell at organiparadox@gmail.com to arrange a time to visit.

– Robert Caldwell (with Ron Byers)

found object assemblage

Viroqua, Wisconsin, 54665 us
Latitude/Longitude: 43.5569174 / -90.8887413

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