"Do you want to go to an art scavenger hunt in the desert?" Without hesitation, my friend Jayne responded, "I'm in!"
A few weeks ago, I flew out to Palm Springs from New York, and Jayne drove to the desert from her home in Los Angeles. We immediately got to the task of locating sixteen different site-specific artworks, the Desert Exhibition of Art (or DesertX), which were sprinkled throughout the Coachella Valley. Our favorites are shown here: Tavares Strachan's I Am, Phillip K. Smith III, The Circle of Land and Sky, Doug Aitken's Mirage, and Claudia Comte's Curves and Zigzags, which I painted a dress to match.
The most fun part of the whole experience was driving through the desert to locate the works. Even though the exhibition had a map, there was still some creative visualization involved in pinpointing the exact location of some of the pieces. Being told to watch out for scorpions was another high point. It was so interesting to see how the various artists created site-specifics works, and the different themes that emerged throughout. All in all, it was a unique experience, and I'm looking forward to the next edition of Desert X!
Photos by Jayne Clark.
