Most of us are content with tiling the bathroom, and perhaps the kitchen. A resident of S.W. London has taken things a bit further.
Hidden away in a quiet residential street in Chiswick, artist Carrie Reichardt’s house is covered from top to bottom - front and back - in colourful mosaic tiles. They tell a thousand tales, each reflecting the various influences and artists who have helped create it since the project first began over twenty years ago in the 90s.
House front
Reichardt decided to use her home as a canvas, and without the restrictions of galleries - and presumably with a liberal-minded council - she was free to do pretty much as she pleased.
It began with work on the back and lower front sections of the house, initially created by Reichardt and her then partner Thayen Rich who came up with the original design, and would have been influenced by his background in storyboard and comic art. Also supporting the creation of the mosaic from its inception were artists ATM and Karen Francesca. Until 2017 work was characterised by bursts of activity interspersed with lengthy spells of inactivity, (I know the feeling). Then there was a massive push to complete the project involving some of the world’s best mosaic artists.
As you can see, the house is covered in bright colours and strong political messages, standing today as an ‘uncensored’ public mural. Riddled with secrets and stories it includes tributes to American prisoners, which represent part of Reichardt’s long running art campaign against the death penalty. Perhaps the most significant memorial is that of Luis Ramirez, who was Reichardt’s pen pal while he was on death row in the early noughties. He somehow managed to send her his prisoner ID card which is now contained in resin on the back of the house. He was executed in 2005.
There is also a blue plaque on the front of the house which, at first glance, looks like one of those issued by English Heritage. However, on closer inspection, it is in fact fully mosaicked and reads “The Treatment Rooms. 2002 – Now. Lots of people lived here, and partied hard.” (The Treatment Rooms reference the community artist collective she is a part of). There is also a giant mosaic recreation of the famous Hokusai Wave on the back of the house, which Reichardt says is a representation of climate change and rising sea levels.
Besides the activism, there are also references to Alice in Wonderland and The Simpsons.
As if the house isn’t enough, there are two mosaicked vehicles parked outside. Both were created as separate art projects in their own right. There’s the Tiki Love Truck which is bright orange and was originally exhibited at the V&A as part of their disobedient objects exhibition in 2014. It commemorates John Joe ‘Ash’ Amador who was sentenced to death in Texas.
There’s also a black taxi cab, another tribute, this time to Kenny ‘Zulu’ Whitmore. He was another prisoner in the American penal system, and spent over 36 years in solitary confinement.
The house, and cars, are free to visit at any time, at 4-6 Fairlawn Grove, Chiswick, W4 5EL.
My thanks to good friend “Shot Tower John”, aka John Royle, who suggested this as a post, and who accompanied me on this morning’s bike ride to see it, and to take photographs.
The two blue plaques on the front of the house, both from the English Hedonists, aka Carrie Reichardt. The first looks just like a normal blue plaque and says ’NA Faith, Hope & Courage – Maybe some of us partied a little too hard‘. The second is mentioned earlier in this post.
The availability of world renowned Chilean artist Isidora Paz Lopez was the catalyst to the big push to finish the house. It was following her offer to come and do something on the building that Reichardt put out the call for other artists to join her on the push to the finish. Isidora’s contribution was a giant scarab beetle surrounding the middle window on the first floor, representing re-birth and re-generation. A quote from her appears at the bottom right which says “think pussytive”.
The Tree of Life. Long time collaborator and friend ATM is responsible for this mosaic tree on the left hand side of the porch, which was one of the first pieces added to the house in 2002.
Double Helix. Two of the pillars running up the top of the building on the front right are mosaic representations of the double helix - the spiral arrangement of the two microbiological complementary strands that make up DNA. These pieces are from long time collaborator Karen Francesca, and represent life. In amongst the strands of the helix can be seen hidden symbols such as vaginas, eyes, grapes and the celtic Sheela Na Gig figures.
Two Lovers. Walking towards the house from the the side, in a certain light the first thing you might think is that two lovers are having a bit of a snog by the side of the building. But, of course, the snoggers are mosaic, and this is just meant to be a visual joke. Something that catches people unawares when they first come upon the house. It was an idea and design from Reichardt’s former partner Thayer Rich.
See, Hear and a Speak No Evil
The Tiki Love Truck
The Black Cab
The back of the house
Hokusai Wave Swallowing London. A mosaic recreation of the famous Great Wave off Kanazawa by Hokusai. Except in this version the wave is swallowing London, including the Gherkin, St. Pauls Cathedral and Canary Wharf.
The original prison ID of Luis Ramirez
Memorial to Luis Ramirez who died in 2005
Covering the full length of the top of the wall at the back of the building are a number of pyramid shaped sculptures with mirrored pieces of glass contained within them. Run along the boxes from left to right and they depict the phases of the moon as it runs through it’s lunar cycle. A quote from Bill Hicks also runs along the length of the wall, just below the lunar cycle sculpture. The pyramid shaped boxes were all cast out of Ferrero Rocher boxes.
A fish mutating due to radiation overload courtesy of Homer Simpson polluting a local lake
Carrie Reichardt
Thayen Rich
Any member of the public who goes to the house can take a card from a small open box mounted on the rear wall of the property. The photograph above shows the front of the card, as at the date of this post.
This is the back of the card
I notice “Airbnb rooms avaliable!”[Stet] That’s something to ponder!! This said, I’ve looked around on Airbnb and can’t find it. Let me know if you have any luck.
Thank you John Royle, for finding the house on Airbnb within about 90 seconds of me posting the above.
On testing the price I found a minimum two night booking in August (weekdays) was £85 a night for “a self contained unit at the top of the world famous mosaic house of the artist Carrie Reichardt. By staying you will be helping fund the production of her work”.
Not bad.
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