House of Chaos. . .

Another site of interest in the Lyon area, and again visited thanks to the excellent blog on outsider art in Europe that Henk Van Es is assembling, is the "Demeure du Chaos", or the "Abode of Chaos" as the New York Times reported it. The house of chaos is a living work of art in progress, with currently in the neighborhood of 3000 individual paintings, sculptures, and other creations on the walls and in the large courtyard around the house which is located in the center of Saint Romain in the Monts d'Or area just north of Lyon. The driving force behind all of it is a artist named Thierry Erhmann. They get hundreds of visitors daily who come to witness the vast array of artwork covering nearly every available surface on the property. . . all of which are reflections of the violent, chaotic times we live in today.
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Not everyone is totally pleased with the dark and striking images visible from quite a distance ; the town council and mayor of Saint Romain have mounted a court battle to have the property restored to a "normal" appearance in keeping with their notions of propriety. Mr Erhmann maintains that his right to liberty of artistic expression should remain paramount over reactionary enforcement of urban codes. Some have compared the efforts to obtain the destruction of the "Abode of Chaos" to the Taliban's destruction of the Buddhas at Bamiyan. . . whatever your opinion, a visit to Saint Romain is provocative source of serious food for thought about our culture of violence and fear.

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