Laurie Fendrich took a time off from painting and drawing to visit Anselm Keifer’s compound in France:
The complex is located about an hour and a half out of Avignon, near Nîmes, in a village called Barjac. The outing set me back 100 euros, but the experience included a nice outdoor lunch, a four-hour tour (in two parts) conducted by a curator from the Collection Lambert, and some miraculous driving (those narrow roads! those curves! those precipices hanging over the river!) by the conductor of our huge motor coach. [ . . . ]
“La Ribaute,” as Kiefer’s place is called, consists of dozens of buildings — some huge, some small (if you think a four-car garage is small) — spread out over several acres, along with six-story tower-like sculptures, an underground labyrinth that simultaneously evokes the American southwest and ancient cave men, a cement approximation of the Naples opera house (he designed some sets for its production of Elektra), and giant playthings (a sprawling indoor pool and a long steel tube suspended fifteen feet up in the air) for Kiefer’s kids to romp in. (Note: After nearly 20 years of living and working in this place, the artist is now closing shop and moving his entire operation to Portugal. There’s a rumor the Guggenheim Museum is going to take over the estate as a monographic museum, but I couldn’t get that confirmed.)
A Klee, a Klee, My Kiefer for a Klee! (Chronicle of Higher Education)
