Reminiscent of African American vernacular yard traditions in the rural South, the museum exists as an open-air collection of over 100 assemblage works scattered across ten acres of the Mojave. Much like his previous career in public policy, Noah Purifoy’s oeuvre reflects an enduring commitment to activating social change. After leaving LA for Joshua Tree in 1989, Noah Purifoy created work on this remote property until his death in 2004 - large-scale installations typical of his disruptive, under-recognized art historical contributions to sculptural abstraction.

Known for early work constructed from charred debris that Purifoy collected in South LA after the 1965 Watts Riots, the desert sculptures also reconfigure found objects charged with aspects of identity, race, and Purifoy’s civil rights activism. These complex, towering assemblages remain in constant collaboration with the elements, their discordant materials bearing witness to prolonged exposure - tattered, sun-bleached fabric remnants tied to fences or stapled to leaning poles, sand and detritus-swept wooden platforms, peeling layers of stark white paint, and warped shoes soles and plywood planks upturned in half-smiles.

The Noah Purifoy Foundation also maintains an on-site archive of Purifoy’s writings and documentation, providing a valuable resource available to scholars and historians engaged in research.

Hours: Sunup to sundown

62975 Blair Ln, Joshua Tree, CA 92252