| A prime example of Houston's rather off-kilter
approach to "folk art", the Beer Can House (222 Malone) is the culmination
of 18 years of hard work, dedication, and drinking. The marriage of a working
class sensibility and an unabashed passion for beer, this oddball sight
was once nothing more than an admittedly unremarkable suburban home, housing
a retired employee of the Southern Pacific railroad and his wife. But John
Milkovisch's love for beer was all-consuming. He purportedly drank at least
a six-pack a day, and his wife was even quoted saying that John "thought
beer cured everything". This passion, combined with a reputed dislike for
maintenance and yard work, ultimately led to the creation of this unique
work of art. Beginning around 1968, shortly after his retirement, John began
decorating his patio with marbles, buttons, and various pieces of brass
and rock. He gradually began to extend his informal project, paving over
the lawn and decorating the cement with more marbles and other shiny debris.
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John had saved seemingly every beer can he had
ever drank from, and as time passed, he began putting them to use as well.
Supposedly out of a desire to avoid painting the house, John began flattening
the beer cans and covering the entire outside of his house with them. His
wife allowed it, with the stipulation that he not do the same to the interior.
John continued working on his project with what seems to have been a single-minded
determination. He made long flowing curtains of aluminum using the pull
tabs, which make soft tinkling sounds when the wind blows through them,
as well as streamers and mobiles with the tops and bottoms of the cans.
More of the can tops and bottoms adorn the fences surrounding the house,
and the eaves around the home seem to be perpetually dangling shiny aluminum
pull-tab icicles. |
