A - Woodcakes ~ B - Watts Towers

A - WOODCAKES

Along Clinton Street, in Toronto, you’ll find Albino Carreira’s house of ‘Woodcakes’, a house decorated with thousands of small pieces of wood held together with tens of thousands of square head or Robertson Screws - the same screws surgeons used to repair Albino’s spine following a near fatal accident on a construction site. Woodcakes is not only Albino’s homage to the man who invented the screw that helped put his mangled body back together, but a form of therapy to help him deal with his chronic pain and anxiety. In addition to the woodcakes and screws, Albino’s home is also adorned with plastic bugs, sliced up pool cues and other oddities. And what does Albino’s son, Steven, think about his house, “Do I enjoy living here? Honestly, I have no choice so I’ve just learned to accept it.” Since 1993, Albino has toiled away at his creation, which has now spilled over to his car. Originally a deterrent to thwart the efforts of car thieves, his van is now covered in thousands of plastic bugs.

B - WATTS TOWERS

The Watts Towers in Los Angeles are among the most loved and revered folk art shrines in the world, but they have been in constant peril for more than 50 years. On a tiny pie-slice- shaped lot stands 17 major sculptural forms made of steel covered with mortar, embedded with pieces of ceramic tile, pottery shards, sea shells, and broken glass. The tallest tower is nearly 100 feet high. They were built by one man. Beginning in 1921, an Italian immigrant tradesman named Simon Rodia spent 30 years surrounding his house with these fantastic structures. He had no formal training in art, but boundless passion, vision and dedication. Not too much is known about why he did it or what it meant, but “Driven By Vision” unearths some fascinating theories, uncovering clues worthy of the “Da Vinci Code”.