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Architectural Fantasies: Artist-Built Environments

by Jo Farb Hernandez

A field guide to artist-built environments across the United States

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AlbakiReads Editorial

A field guide to artist-built environments across the United States

Jo Farb Hernandez surveys more than 60 artist-built spaces in over 30 states, from modified homes and decorated interiors to monuments and sites of devotion. Named examples include Coral Castle, the Watts Towers, Mindfield, Bishop’s Castle, and Second Coming House. Together, they show how creators working outside mainstream architecture bring practical spaces and imaginative expression into close contact. The book also places these environments across a varied U.S. landscape, from Tennessee backroads and Colorado mountains to upstate New York neighborhoods, giving the survey a broad geographic scope.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Those interested in visionary and unconventional architecture
  • Readers exploring artist-built environments, monuments, and decorated interiors
  • Architecture enthusiasts seeking examples from across the United States

Themes

Artist-built environmentsVisionary architectureFunction and fantasyDecoration and ornamentRegional American landscapes

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Book overview

From Miami's Coral Castle to LA's Watts Towers, Architectural Fantasies explores over 60 dwellings across more than 30 states. These artist-built spaces allow one to step directly into the artwork, and range from scratch-built creations and modified structures to monuments, sites of devotion, and intricately decorated interiors.

Is it a rollercoaster? A cathedral? A dream? There you are, traveling along the beautiful backroads of western Tennessee, or the majestic mountains of Colorado, or a quiet neighborhood in upstate New York, when you encounter a monumental and wondrous creation. You have found Billy Tripp's Mindfield, Jim Bishop's Castle, or Prophet Isaiah Robertson's Second Coming House--examples of unconventional and unique visionary architecture.

All across the U.S., these self-taught artists and architects, working outside of the mainstream, unite function with fantasy. The works are generally monumental, frequently provocative, often whimsical, sometimes reverential, and regularly misunderstood--but always remarkable. Experience this window into the passion and the innovation of some of our most creative artists and the ways they transform the spaces in which they live and work.
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