There are dozens of abandoned cities in the U.S. One of them definitely stands out: this is a small ghost town of Rhyolite in Nevada, in the west of America. It was founded at the beginning of the XX century as a promising center of the mining industry, but by the 1980s Riolith was empty, and it began to be used as a space for art installations. They are created by the Belgian artist Albert Schukalski.
The artist settled in an abandoned area of ghosts, which were created from white material similar to a sheet. The objects are available for viewing live - in Rhyolite for this purpose the Goldwell Museum was created in the open air. Travelers heading to Death Valley can stop by the museum along the way. And they can be seen using Google maps.
Albert Schukalski began working on the installation in 1984, placing one ghost next to an abandoned house and putting him on a bicycle. The author called this work "The Ghost Racer". Several ghosts look like they are preparing some kind of secret rite - this exhibit the artist called "The Last Supper", making a modern interpretation of the famous work of Leonardo da Vinci.
To create art objects, Albert Shukalski needed burlap impregnated with plaster. It was superimposed on the model, then waited for time for the material to freeze and be able to hold its shape on its own. At first, the installation project was invented with the expectation that it can stand for about two years, but the exhibit is in good condition to this day. Although during the storm one art object was destroyed - "Desert Flower"(it was installed in 1989).
The abandoned city inspired the work of not only the Belgian artist who created ghosts. There are other fascinating objects: for example, "Lady Desert: Venus of Nevada", made by Hugo Heyerman. It is a huge sculpture of a woman, which seems to be made of pixels. Sophie Sigman installed a mosaic-decorated sofa and called it "Sit Here." She also created a large sculpture of the miner Shorty Harris and a penguin of a flat shape. The object is called "Dedicated to Shorty Harris".
