We recently stumbled upon a vintage gem on the art environment beat:
The English musician Jarvis Cocker, largely known as the frontman of the popular 90s Britpop group Pulp, traveling the world over to visit art environments and meet with the makers behind them in his 1999 three-part television series on BBC 4, "Journeys Into the Outside With Jarvis Cocker."
Who better to bring the world of self-taught art to the public than the idiosyncratic performer behind the 1995 hit, "Common People." In the introduction, Cocker explains his inspiration for the series, in school at London's St. Martin's School of Art:
"So desperate to find a spark of inspiration, something that would help to put these feelings into words, I began to scour the college library. There was no shortage of material on offer, but none of it seemed to fit the bill. I needed to find something outside all this, something that had not been analysed to death. And then when I had all but given up hope of such a thing existing, I found it: in a book called Outsider Art."
"The book was about art made by people from all walks of life, who didn't think of themselves as artists, but were creating things because they thought they had to, rather than because they had been taught to. Although the book featured paintings and sculptures it was the photographs of unusual buildings and monuments that really caught my imagination. How could there be a gap between art and everyday life, if every day you lived inside the work of art you had created? This was exactly what I was looking for."
Journeys Into The Outside with Jarvis Cocker (ep#1)
Part One: FRANCE
Cocker visits each of these art environments. Visit the links to see their page on our SPACES Online Archive:
- Les Rochers Sculptés (Abbe Fouré) -- Rothéneuf, near St Malo, France
- La Maison de la vaiselle cassée (Robert Vasseur) -- Louviers, France
- Jardin du Coquillage (Bodan Litnianski) -- Viry-Noureuil, northern France
- House of Monsieur G -- Nesles, France
- Maison Picassiette (Raymond Isidore) -- Chartres, France
- Le Village d´art Préludien (Monsieur Chomo) -- Acheres-la-Foret, France
- Palais Idéal (Ferdinand Cheval) -- Hauterives, France
Part Two: UNITED STATES
Cocker visits each of these art environments. Visit the links to see their page on our SPACES Online Archive:
- Coral Castle (Edward Leedskalnin) -- Miami, Florida
- Miracle Cross Garden (Rev W.C. Rice) -- Prattville, Alabama
- Land of Pasaquan (Eddie Owens Marton/St. EOM) -- Buena Vista, Georgia
- Paradise Gardens (Rev. Howard Finster) -- Summerville, Georgia
- The House of Crosses (Mitchell Szewczjyk) -- Chicago, Illinois
- Garden of Eden (Samuel P. Dinsmoor) -- Lucas, Kansas
- The Orange Show (Jeff McKissack) -- Houston, Texas
- Beer Can House (John Milkovisch) -- Houston, Texas
- Bottle Village ("Grandma" Tressa Prisbrey) -- Simi Valley, Los Angeles, California
- Salvation Mountain (Leonard Knight) -- Slab City/Niland, California
- Watts Towers (Simon "Sam" Rodia) -- Watts, Los Angeles, California
"I'd found much more than just a subject for an essay, I'd found something that I could really get excited about. And I vowed if I ever got the chance, I'd go and find more about these incredible places and the people who'd made them. Now almost a decade later that time has come."
Part Three: INDIAN, MEXICO, BELGIUM, AND SWITZERLAND
Cocker visits each of these art environments. Visit the links to see their page on our SPACES Online Archive:
- Rock Garden (Nek Chand) -- Chandigarh, India
- Las Pozas (Edward James) -- Xilitla, Mexico
- Tower of the Apocalypse / Eben-Ezer Tower (Robert Garcet) -- Eben-Emael, Belgium
- Junker House (Karl Junker) -- Lemgo, Germany
- Bruno Weber Sculpture Park --Spreitenbach, Switzerland
We hope Jarvis Cocker's enthusiasm rubs off, and you find yourself on your own "Journey!"
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