Driving down Route 95, one of the many endless highways of Nevada, I stop off at the (almost) ghost town of Goldfield, about halfway between Las Vegas and Reno. Gold was discovered here in 1902 and Goldfield quickly became a wealthy boomtown till a fire (caused by the explosion of a moonshine still) destroyed it in 1923. What was once Nevada's largest city is today mostly abandoned — homes boarded up, saloons shuttered, and the once opulent Goldfield Hotel, reportedly haunted.
A dirt road leads from the town into the surrounding desert landscape and I see curious shapes jutting out from the ground in the distance. I walk past a white, padlocked RV that has an artfully decomposing couch out front, its foam innards spilling out and rusted springs glinting in the hot afternoon sun. I continue on the trail, passing the odd Joshua tree, and ten minutes later I am standing in front of the International Car Forest of The Last Church.
But instead of an ecclesiastical edifice, a surreal sight greets me — in the sun-scorched valley, there are nearly 50 cars in various stages of breakdown, with striking, colourful graffiti painted on them. Some cars stand upright with their noses buried in the ground, some are precariously balanced at unlikely angles, some piled on top of others; all absolutely incongruous in the desert setting.
A lone signboard proclaims the installation as the “world’s largest national junk car forest”, and calls it an “artist’s playground”. This rather elaborate junkyard is inarguably one of the coolest collections of artwork I have seen.
The car forest was created in 2002 by long-time Goldfield resident Michael “Mark” Rippie, who had ‘planted’ a few graffiti-scrawled cars on his 80-acre property in the desert. This spectacle piqued the interest of Reno-based artist Chad Sorg and in 2004, Sorg moved to the town to work alongside Rippie.
Elaborate junkyard or artist’s playground?
Despite its name, there are no overtly religious symbols. The ‘last church’ moniker comes from Rippie’s own spiritual leanings, which eschew organised religion and preach love and compassion for all. Both Rippie and Sorg conceptualised the exhibit as a free space where other artists could join them and together unleash their artistic expression on cars instead of canvases.
Today, there are 40-odd cars in this one-of-a-kind open-air ‘gallery’ that is free to visit.
Most of the cars are wildly painted over — there are psychedelic geometric designs, blue angels, red ninjas, striking portraits, skulls and crossbones, and elaborate murals. A white-and-turquoise school bus sprouts out of the ground at a 45-degree angle, and elsewhere a limo is stacked atop an ice cream truck, both of them painted with a colourful owl. There is no overarching theme to the installation, other than perhaps the freedom to create.
The installation was completed in 2011. In 2013, Rippie and Sorg had a falling out and no longer work together. Since then, Rippie has spent two years in federal prison for violating gun laws. Sorg returned to Reno where he is involved with various art projects.
The International Car Forest Of The Last Church still stands and is open to visitors all year round. As I leave, I turn for one last glimpse. A beige car standing upright on its nose catches my attention. Large capitals spray-painted on its roof scream ‘not for haters’. A giant red heart is emblazoned on the side of another car nearby.
If there were a Woodstock of cars, I imagine this is what it would look like.
Prachi Joshi is a Mumbai-based travel and food writer.
