a collection of 17 interconnected sculptural structures in the Watts community of Los Angeles, California, also known as Towers of Simon Rodia, or Nuestro Pueblo (“our town”). The tallest of the towers reaches a height of over 99 feet (30 m). The towers and walls were designed and built by Sabato (“Simon”) Rodia (1879-1965), an Italian immigrant construction worker and tile mason, over a period of 33 years, from 1921 to 1954. The work is an example of outsider art and Italian-American naïve art. The sculptures’ armatures are constructed from steel rebar and his own concoction of a type of concrete, wrapped with wire mesh. The main supports are embedded with pieces of porcelain, tile, and glass. They are decorated with found objects, including bottles, ceramic tiles, sea shells, figurines, mirrors, and much, much more.
a wiki of socially engaged art
