Art of East Jesus

Art of East Jesus

Bottle Wall and entrance to Sculpture Garden

Article and photography by Natasha Petrosova 

    There between the toxic waters of the Salton Sea and the active bombing range in the most

 remote area of Slab City sits East Jesus, a permanent artist community in the Colorado Desert

 that features sculptures and installations. The late Charles Russell, radical thinker and art car

 decorator, founded East Jesus in 2007 to create an inimitable establishment that would be both

 a livable space and an art installation decorated from the inside out.  

Financial difficulties prevented Russell from purchasing the land needed to create such a 

venue, so he took his project to Slab City, “The Last Free Place in America,” where he could 

build without permits, create without boundaries, and live on the land freely (and for free). But 

freedom comes at a price, as East Jesus is characterized by taxing summer weather, and lack of 

electricity, gas, water, and a sewer system. 

Despite those challenges, Russell and a small band of allies, created a comfortable living 

environment, inventing a shower and toilet, and generating electricity through solar panels. 

With a hint of sarcasm, Russell named his creation East Jesus, meaning a faraway, remote, and 

uninteresting place not worth visiting. Of all the labels one might stick on East Jesus, 

“uninteresting” does not come to mind.

After Russell’s sudden death last summer, his friends and supporters took over East Jesus, 

and his work. Frank Redford, a curator, calls himself an East Jesus “Bully,”  along with 

other dedicated artists, musicians, writers, and freethinkers, continue to create and expand 

within its walls.  

Today the installation at East Jesus consists of the main structure, the Art Garden, livable art

 cars and buses, a music room complete with a baby grand piano, a garden, a kitchen, and 

more.

 EJ artists mostly use trash and found/recycled material to assemble sculptures, installations, 

and habitable spaces. They nurture the idea of making something beautiful and useful from 

ugly, unwanted and discarded items, so East Jesus exists in a harmonious balance between a 

rejected land and installations made of rejected objects.

Over the years, East Jesus has become a unique place for artists to express themselves in 

unconventional, even radical ways.  It is a place to live and work away from traditional 

galleries, museums, and the institutionalized contemporary art world. The Art here does not 

require a critic’s approval, nor is it made with the intention to be sold, traded, and reviewed. 

Here art exists to be touched, rearranged, and lived in. Most EJ artists don’t have a traditional 

art education, nor is one required to live and create here. Some participants don’t even consider

 themselves artists in their daily lives, though they still produce art within 

the East Jesus borders.

This small community exemplifies the relational aesthetic, where people come together to 

participate in the shared activity of making art. The environment was created through art, and 

art is the daily activity that gives the community’s participants a sense of worth and belonging. 

Here, art shapes human relationships and provides an alternative social framework. 

Some of the Art Garden’s sculptures and installations, like “Tower Barbarella” and a 

“Bottle Wall” are collaborations. Others were created by individual artists, like Frank 

Redford’s “The Man’s Vices,” and Joes Holiday‘s “Mammoth.” Other works, such as the 

installation “TV Wall,” are meant to remain uncompleted works. Redford said that as long as 

there are more found TVs and computer monitors, the structure will continue to grow.  

Post Apocalypse and Survival are the underlying themes of East Jesus installations and the 

life style. The harsh environment and off-the-grid exile living, combined with sculptures and 

installations created from trash found, for the most part, in its own environment, offer viewers 

an unfamiliar, uncanny experience. It is a literal glimpse into an unfortunate future of what life 

would become following the very real threat of nuclear war or environmental disaster. This 

perspective forces the viewer into active engagement with an installation while experiencing a 

sense of community and alternative social interaction. 

The essence of survival is not only limited to East Jesus’ human occupants. The art itself, in

 the severe open desert heat, under the blistering sun, weathering thunderstorms and floods, 

must outlast this unrelenting environment. Survival and the post-apocalyptic future are both 

communicated in a multiplicity of themes, religious, political, and literal. Perhaps it is an 

expression of the uncertainty for East Jesus itself, both as a collective and individual effort. 

After all, the land upon which East Jesus stands does not legally belong to its inhabitants, so 

there is a sensible fear that federal officials might one day arrive on bulldozers and raze the art 

and habitat. Perhaps it is an encouraging message of rebuilding, hope, and new beginning.

 Found and communal art may not be new ideas in the contemporary art world, but what 

makes East Jesus unique is its treatment of a new genre, the roots of which can be found in the 

temporary establishment of Black Rock City, at the annual Burning Man Festival. 

Furthermore,  East Jesus revamps old ideas in a new and unpredictable way. It offers an 

innovative conceptual representation of unity and harmony between the object, environment, 

artist, and lifestyle.

Perceptual distance/distinction between artist, object, and viewer remains intangible, as it is 

merging and interchangeable, ultimately providing a unified, continuous experience for 

everyone involved. This kind of conceptual representation is difficult, perhaps impossible to 

realize in a traditional museum or gallery setting, but these are the very qualities that 

push East Jesus in fresh, unique, and imaginative directions.

The Ducks installation in Art Garden

Inside the Cinnabar Charm.  Art Car by Charles Russell.

Art Car in Art Garden

 TV Wall

A livable space inside a trailer

Man's Vices by Frank Redford

Another sculpture in the Art Garden

Mammoth by Joe Holliday

Buried House.  Installation by Ben Wolf and Heidi Tullmann 

The office

Celling decorated with vintage records

The area outside to sit , talk and relax

Another livable space inside the trailer decorated with T-shirts

Frank Redford, a curator of East Jesus, gives a tour to a visitor from Los Angels Lance Dutcher.   The installation Frank is pointing is "The Can Organ".  This installation is  known to make the  intriguing sound during the rain.

Bottles for the Bottle Wall.  

Frank Redford, a curator and a Bully of East Jesus.

The kitchen.  a clever way to get a gas stove work by connecting it to a propane tank.

Music room

A memorial installation dedicated to Charles Russell

Installation in progress

Installation in progress