"Is It Art, Or Is It Junk?" ::

The headline is from today's Huntsville Times regarding the city of Huntsville's proposed actions against Wade Whorton and his yard. I have never met Mr. Whorton, but I first came across his house, which is in an extremely obscure location in the city, a couple of years ago and immediately wanted to photograph it. I have yet to have the time when I would consider the light to be right, but I guess that I will have to make the trip soon: possibly as soon as this weekend. Here are some snippets from the Times article:

Wade Wharton's house is easy to spot. Drive south on Triana Boulevard, take a left on Nassau Drive and keep going. You'll pass a dozen or so houses, but be patient. You can't miss it.

At the end of the street, there on your right, is what Wharton's been working on since 2001. For more than seven years, Wharton, 70, has been transforming discarded materials into pieces of art...

[snip]

There's a Japanese-inspired bridge made out of an old trampoline. There's a disassembled Volkswagen Beetle crafted into the shape of a monkey. And, scattered around his property, are tire irons, shovel blades and transmission flywheels that Wharton has refashioned into flowers.

"Another man's trash is my treasure," Wharton said.

But not everyone sees the beauty in Wharton's art.

"We call it junk," said Bob Rushbrook, the code enforcement supervisor for the City of Huntsville's Department of Community Development.

In January, one of Rushbrook's agents gave Wharton an official notice to clean up the property.

Let me say at this point that several years ago, when I lived within the city limits of Huntsville, I had some interaction with this department due to a truck which was not running, but which had a flat tire. Didn't matter that I was working on the truck to get it running: A couple of trips to court and a used tire solved the problem, but I can attest to the tenacity of Huntsville's Department of Community Development. On with the story:

Is it art?

Wharton, who's lived in the same southwest Huntsville home for more than 40 years, said he doesn't remember why he started decorating his yard.

But he knows where his artistic abilities originated. Wharton had a stroke in 1974, and it changed how he looked at objects. He started whittling, which led to painting, drawing, gardening, creating stained glass and writing poetry.

In 2001, Wharton began adding items to his yard like the movable, metal praying mantis and the bright, pink bug on top of his roof.

This all reminds me of the fiasco of local businesses being forced to paint over outside murals relating to their business because these murals happened to violate some obscure ordinance which no one knew about, but here's some more:

Some of Wharton's art pieces are similar to the metal work of Alabama folk/outsider artist Charlie Lucas of Selma. Lucas, like Wharton, uses discarded materials. But Lucas, who has been featured on "All Things Considered" on National Public Radio, has been called a "visionary folk artist" and has shown his work around the world...

[snip]

It's Wharton's ingenuity, creativity and mechanical know-how that impressed Dan Halcomb, the deputy director of The Arts Council, Inc.

Halcomb, who took the tour on a recent Monday, called some of the pieces "smart" and "incredible."

"There are several pieces there within the garden that I think belong in a museum," Halcomb said. "It's good outsider art." ("Outsider art" is typically produced by self-taught artists who have little or no contact with the established art world.),
But Halcomb made it clear he was speaking from an artistic standpoint, and not about code violations.

"Here's someone that's thinking outside the box and being endlessly creative," Halcomb said. "To me, it's just fascinating."

Aesthetics, values, rights

We have this very nice museum occupying space down at Big Spring Park, but here is what the city's agent has to say about Mr. Whorton's art:

After an inspection of Wharton's property in January, his art was deemed junk.

"If it is art, then the landfill is a museum," Rushbrook said flatly.

Every so often I drive throught the neighorhood expressly to see Mr. Wharton's yard and I take great delight in seeing his yard. I have never stopped in simply because I never met Mr. Wharton and I had no idea just how he might react to my wanting to photograph his yard and I'm happy to see that he is very open to visitors. In fact, I might make this a part of my observance of Earth Day next Saturday.

I do plan to offer what support I can to Mr. Wharton's artistic endeavours and I sincerely hope that there is an outpouring of community support!