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

Slab City: The Last Free Place in America

A Car entering Slab City

Article and photography by Natasha Petrosova 

The story of this town begins in 1942 when United States Navy department obtained 631 acres of desert land east of Niland at the western foot of Chocolate Mountain to use as a camp Dunlap Naval reservation .   In 1942  a military post was built as well as 30 -some buildings, swimming pool ,sewage collection and treatment system  and concrete fuel tanks.  The Marine Corps used camp Dunlap as a training center and 185.000 troops were trained there firing a heavy artillery.  After the war ended , the training ended.  Camp Dunlap was finally demolished in 1956 .  Marines picked up , removed all the buildings , the site was abandoned and all that was left were the foundations of concrete slabs , hence Slab City.     

The land now belongs to  State of California.  The State tried to sell it in a past but without any luck.  No one knows how much it would cost to clean it up .  Munitions and military waste could be buried underneath the land and the land itself is covered in trash.    It could potentially cost too much to clean.  Slab  City residents say that "This is a land that nobody wants "   , this is why no one bothers them to stay here for the past 60 years. 

In the early 1960s  abandoned camp Dunlap was transformed into a Slab City with over than 10 000 " Snow birds"  settling here for the winter months.  Some became full times residents and stay through strenuous summer months when the temperature  can reach 120 degrees .   Slab City was featured in Sean Penn's movie " Into the Wild" in 2007 that gave this city more popularity.  2008 recession brought even more new residents into Slab City.  

People migrate to Slab city for different reasons: Some due to poverty because they can not afford to live anywhere else, others to escape the law, retirees trying to stretch their retirement money, and some move here to be free from government and society rules.  

Slab City is one of a kind of the community.  It's probably the only place in the United States , where one can live for free and be free from laws and regulations because they  are not enforced here.  This is why they call it " A last free place" and the city lives up to its nickname .   "Want to hang out nude in thermal mud baths or skateboard stoned in the bowl of an Olympic-size pool? Go for it. In the mood to construct outlandish pieces of art with scrap metal, dig an SUV-size trench for no particular reason or play 18 holes of golf on a grassless course to the sound of bombs in the distance? This is the place. " One can live here freely and for free.  Slab City residents build up the community that works in their own special way with only one rule" live and let live" .      But the freedom comes at the price.  There is no electricity , water or sewer here.  It may be free , but there is no garbage pick up and slab city land is covered in trash.  Slab City residents use solar panels to get electricity.  There is a concrete hole in a ground supplied by local hot spring and serves as slab city shower.  

Slab City has a library, a church, Oasis club and the concert stage called "the range " .  The range was built by 20 - year resident Bill Ammon also known as "Builder Bill" where he performs every Saturday night.  The range also holds events such as yearly prom night, Halloween and more.  

Perhaps the community's most popular Slabber was Leonard Knight a creator of Salvation Mountain that points the entrance to Slab City.   Even after his death he still enjoys a local legend status. 

 References:

Slab City, Here We Come: Living Life Off the Grid in California's Badlands by Jason Motlagh:  http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2105597,00.html

 Old military check point entrance to slab city

 old military check point

 Inside miltary check point

 Slab City Shower

 Slab city Hot Spring

near hot spring

 near hot spring

Tree of shoes

 Slab City Church

 Slab City information board

 solar panels

 a salb after which sity takes its name

 Some art installation

 Slab City land is covered with trash

 Art Car

 the old range abandoned

 New Range where Bill Ammon performs every Saturday

 The military check point leaving slab City

military check point leaving Slab City