Glass Outhouse Art Gallery

Jess Wainer

Wonder Valley

I drive up Godwin Road, past the 29 Palms Airport, under two sets of pumps and braziers dangling over the electrical lines and wonder if any of the seven Cessnas I see on the concrete pad ever move. I pull up to the gallery and am delighted to discover that the installation it’s named after is an actual outhouse with an operational toilet, that you can use while looking out at the desert without outsiders seeing in. Coming from my plumbing-free cabin with its outdoor ‘composting toilet’, this seems particularly luxurious, so I go in immediately.

My face almost touches the wall as I squat over the toilet and attempt to keep my purse and long black dress from falling in. At that distance, I spot some areas where the greyish film that’s creating the one-way mirror effect does not quite reach the edge. I quickly dismiss questions that bubble up about how these gaps might compromise my privacy and refocus on the rest of the experience, which is quite cool. The blended image of the desert, the glass mosaic on the gallery building, and my partial reflection create a compelling three-dimensional collage.

Once outside, a jolly couple sitting in plastic chairs, presumably the owners, offers me a cold drink from the fridge to enjoy while exploring the grounds. I pass a metal rooster and chicken coop, a maze of liquor bottles lined up and shoved upside-down into the sand, and a flower pot figure with a cartoonish heart-shaped mouth and long eyelashes. I mistakenly interpret the assortment of odd objects as random, and then realize that most are playful nods to the perils of the desert. I encounter body parts mostly submerged in quick sand, skeletons pumping iron and riding stationary bikes, and stitched black cowboy boots jutting out of a sand with an ornate cross and black lace fan marking the grave. The humor, loose staging, and inclusive nature of this eclectic and carefree collection are a welcome treat in contrast to the tightly curated art spaces I am used to.

77575 Twentynine Palms Hwy, Twentynine Palms, CA 92277