“Aesthetic communication may stop wars. If a man would build his own chartreuse gargoyle and live in it rather than glass and steel boxes, he could communicate better with his neighbour.”
- Fredric Hobbs, quoted in the San Mateo Times, January 1971
A notably eccentric Californian artist who passed away in April, Fredric Hobbs did pioneering work in the form of parade floats, ‘driveable art’ and ritualistic statuary, before developing an uncompromising philosophy he named ‘Art Eco’, seemingly based around issues of environmentalism, waste reclamation, and the impossibility of separating art from life.
Between 1969 and 1973, he also wrote and directed four of the strangest commercial feature films ever inflicted upon American audiences – which is where I, and probably most others out there who recognise his name, came in.
Sadly, despite being involved in all manner of wild and wonderful shenanigans over the years, Hobbs seems to have remained a fairly obscure figure in both the art and film worlds. I’ve done my best however to pull together what information I can for
this tribute post on my own blog. If any of the above intrigues you, I hope it will prove interesting reading.
