Sometimes art doesn’t want to remain limited to a papery prison. It longs to come alive and claim its place in the world. Such is the case with so many of the abbreviated sketches penned along poetic passages or loving missives from our guests after experiencing the wonder of their JTO stays. And so these brief works of art are added to the Joshua
Joshua Tree Oasis guest book week-after-week, season-upon-season—
…a stark cactus seeming to shout a silent “hallelujah” against a setting sun; a wide-eyed bobcat peering down from on top a rocky outcrop; duo cups of coffee in an early morning tableau recalling a sacred moment of rare togetherness… The sketches are like silent inhales captured momentarily, only to come alive in the next breath when no one is looking. Nothing is static in this sequestered vacation resort straddling the great Mojave desert. All magic is real. Art and reality are one and the same. The simple art works recall a Broadway musical, “Sunday in the Park with George,” by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapin.
Inspired by artist Georges Seurat, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” the music was not only captivating but it was the staging that was so riveting. The audience was witness to a curtain painted to represent this famous “Afternoon” by Seurat and then when the music begins the curtain magically morphs from art work to the exact duplicate of the scene now replicated by moving actors. The painted “Sunday” now becomes the real “Sunday” and we are invited to experience it as the artist once did through his own perspective.
And so it is at Joshua Tree Oasis. The line between fantasy and reality is as fine as charcoal etchings or watercolor washes or ink sketches rendered real the second you enter this very same world. You quickly understand the feeling behind each nuanced drawing. And you know that each preserves a magical time when the art world and the real world dissolve into each other.
And now, you too, step into the art work and become part of the natural artistry that attracts such a global world of admirers. For a morning, an evening, or an afternoon never to be forgotten…
