Is it art or Stinking, sticky rocks ?

Oil from tanker wrecks Spanish hermit's art 

Tuesday, December 31, 2002
By Emma Ross-Thomas, Reuters


CAMELLE, Spain � Man has two items of clothing: a loin cloth and a pair of black rubber boots. 

A 66-year-old hermit, Man lives in a hut in Camelle, a small fishing port on the northwestern corner of Spain, looking out to the Atlantic. He wears only his loin cloth to protect him from the bracing Galician weather. 

He came to Spain from his native Germany 41 years ago and has spent much of the time since creating sculptures from rocks bound together with cement. Towers made from a series of blobs and swirling Gaudiesque amalgamations make up the
collection. 

But Man's sculpture garden has become a victim of the oil which spewed from the tanker Prestige which broke in two and sank off northwest Spain on Nov. 19, dumping an unknown amount of its 77,000-ton cargo. 

Along with much of Galicia's previously unspoiled coastline, Man's garden has been coated with oil and many of the sculptures have been spattered with it. The oil has filled a rock pool surrounded by turrets and the path which leads to his hut is
saturated with it. 

The authorities have given Man a pair of Wellington boots to protect his feet. 

ORNAMENTAL SKELETONS 

Man's house, some 10 feet square, is painted with yellow and white circles. Small windows, some painted, have been carved out. The facade is covered with seashells and ornamented with a broken thermometer and a fragment of an electronic board. 

A dolphin's back bone stands by the door like an umbrella stand and bird and fish skeletons hang from the ceiling inside the gloomy shack. 

Fish nets sit on the roof and tree trunks seem to poke out of the top. Yellow plastic bags dim the light coming through the transparent front door.  

Reluctant to talk, Man declines to explain his sculpture garden. 

"It's for free interpretation," Man said, standing in the narrow doorway of his hut, clad only in his brown loin cloth. 

He gives nothing away about his full name or background, nor does he reveal his feelings about the damage to his life's work. 

Some of his towers look like more primitive versions of sculptures by 20th century Catalan artist Joan Miro. Asked if Miro is an influence, Man bows his head and nods. "Yes." 

In the garden, animal skulls and jawbones lie among the sculptures, along with parts of engines, gnarled tree trunks, buoys, cogs and a car bumper. Man says everything in the garden comes from what he finds on the beach. 

Since the Prestige sank, a pair of oil-stained rubber gloves has been added to the collection. 

A PLACE OF HIS OWN 

Man said that when he came to this small fishing village it was "a desert." 

"[I came here and built this] to create my own world. I was looking for a place to be alone," Man said. "This is my world. I don't think like other people." 

Locals say he has kicked up a fuss at development of the town's sea walkway which lies alongside his shack. 

Man's museum is not exactly on the tourist trail but visitors do come to see his creations and a sign in the village points to the "Museum of the German." 

All along the northwestern Galician coast locals have heard about "The German." 

The hermit charges a dollar entrance and fiercely defends his museum against trespassers, not letting them leave his sight before he sees their cash. Cameras are an extra dollar. 

A hand-scribbled sign at the entrance reads "Do not enter, out of respect for the
artist and his work." 

NAKED BUT HARMLESS 

Villagers in Camelle are unfazed by the blue-eyed hermit. 

"He's always naked and barefoot � at the markets, in the shops, winter and summer alike, he's always naked," said Modesto Mouzo, a fisherman from Camelle. "But he's just there, quietly in his place. He used to be a bit pig-headed." 

Locals said he used to stop visitors walking along the jetty, fiercely shooing them away. 

"He doesn't cause any harm," said fisherman Carmelo Suarez. 

Still, villagers are not convinced that Man and his garden deserve the title museum or art. 

"I think it's just a handful of rocks," said Mouzo. 
Stinking, sticky rocks now.