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The volume Singular Spaces II completes the comprehensive and groundbreaking study of art environments created by self-taught artists from across Spain, documented by Jo Farb Hernández, director emerita of the world's most important archives on these monumental sites. It introduces and examines 99 artists and their intriguing and idiosyncratic sculptures, homes, and gardens, most of which have never been thoroughly documented or previously published; the author has cast a wide net to ensure all regions of Spain are represented, as are all kinds of spaces assembled with all kinds of materials. These sites are developed organically, without formal architectural or engineering plans: they are at once evolving and complete. Often highly fanciful and quixotic, the work is frequently characterized by incongruous juxtapositions, the result of a dynamic approach to creation that may appear impulsive and spontaneous. But these artists and their works have much to teach us about the process of creation and also about the confidence to undertake a path radically different from the one they had followed during the prime of their working lives. Hernández combines detailed case studies of the artists and their work with contextualized historical and theoretical references to a broad range of interlocking fields, including art, art history, anthropology, vernacular architecture, Spanish area studies, and folklore, complemented with compelling visuals of each of the artists and their artworks. Breaking down the standard compartmentalization of genres, she reveals how most creators of art environments, building within their own personal spaces, fuse their creations with their daily life in a way generally unmatched in any other circumstances of making art, thus in the process providing an open self-reflection of their life and concerns. The universality of the need to create, and the issues that are confronted when one does so in a public and non-sanctioned way, are relevant to art and artists worldwide.

Architectural Fantasies: Artist-Built Environments features dwellings where one can enter into the artwork itself. These fantastical, idiosyncratic buildings and sites straddle a space between art and architecture. While not always understood, these sometimes whimsical, sometimes reverential constructions are often conceived by the artist as a gift to the public; to inspire them to slow down and to open their eyes and their hearts to alternative spaces. Featured in this book are rare looks at singular constructions—buildings and spaces that have been created from scratch or modified in unusual and unexpected ways. Untethered to conventions, these structures push the parameters of what we would normally consider “architecture.” They may break through height standards, utilize materials in innovative ways, ignore ease of accessibility and norms and, disregard any attempt to maintain stylistic consistency among the various components. These provocative places unite function and fantasy.

An innovative study of artists balancing tradition with creativity

Published by leading outsider art imprint Raw Vision, Singular Spaces is a groundbreaking survey of art environments created by self-taught artists from across Spain. The book introduces and examines 45 artists and their idiosyncratic sculptures, gardens and buildings, most of which have never been published. The sites are developed organically, without formal architectural or engineering plans; they are at once evolving and complete. Often highly fanciful and quixotic, the work is frequently characterized by incongruous juxtapositions, an approach that appears impulsive and spontaneous. Director of the organization SPACES (Saving and Preserving Arts and Cultural Environments), Jo Farb Hernández, combines detailed case studies of the artists and their work with contextualized historical and theoretical references to art history, anthropology, architecture, Spanish area studies and folklore. Breaking down the standard compartmentalization of genres, she reveals how most creators of art environments, who are building within their own personal spaces, fuse their creations with their daily lives.

Published by the Natalie and James Thompson Art Gallery, Department of Art and Art History, San Jose State University, to accompany the exhibition Jon Serl: The Mutability of Being, April-May 2013.

An innovative study of artists balancing tradition with creativity

Published by the Natalie and James Thompson Art Gallery, Department of Art and Art History, San Jose State University, to accompany the exhibition Jon Serl: The Mutability of Being, April-May 2013.