AMERICAN CANYON, CA — On February 20, 2024, Scott and Heather Artis opened The Ruins Digital Exhibit to archive and preserve the colorful street art and graffiti now adorning the 120 year old former Standard Portland Cement Company industrial ghost factory site. The online, living exhibition will be updated regularly as new pieces debut on The Ruins Exhibit social media channels and website. More than 200 photographs are slated to be made publicly accessible over the next year with future photos to make their way to the exhibit once captured and archived. The exhibit itself is a mix of richly painted guerrilla art contrasting a yesteryear backdrop that has slowly decayed over the 5 decades since operations ceased in the late 1970s.
“The feral artistic nature of the site will one day be destroyed as we see it now and, in a best case scenario, harnessed and dressed for public use,” said Scott Artis, co-founder of The Ruins Exhibit. “And when that happens, the original, free spirit that commands awe and fear will be tamed, and the inherent danger of water filled pits, falling bricks, and exposed steel will give way to order. At that point we will have lost an incredibly unique gallery created by time and neglect.”– Scott Artis
The Ruins Exhibit will strive to highlight the contemporary art forms on display that includes a vast array of words and images in the forms of graffiti and street art as well as the intersection of dilapidated structures transformed by abandonment and time. This digital exhibition will showcase this one of kind, ad-hoc open air gallery to the public online — largely through still images but will combine the use of video as an additional archival means.
“This century old industrial site in a small suburban Napa County community beholds raw, colorful street art nestled at the intersection of suburbia and rolling hills,” said Heather Artis, co-founder of The Ruins Exhibit. “We hope to digitally archive and preserve this essence before it’s lost or is transformed by societal norms and, understandably, safety concerns.”– Heather Artis
The Ruins Exhibit website (RuinsExhibit.com) and social media went live on February 20, 2024 with the first posts hitting Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and Pinterest that same day.
Constructed in 1903, The Ruins began life as Standard Portland Cement Company’s clay and limestone quarry. A bustling hub of jobs in Napa County that fed cement needs for the construction boon in Northern California, the company continued operations until 1935, changing hands to the Santa Cruz Portland Cement Company. By 1950, the Basalt Rock Company had acquired the site and constructed additional buildings to meet the needs of its operations, which ceased in 1978. For the last 45 years, the silos, buildings, and rotunda lay abandoned and slowly devolved into what would ultimately become known as The Ruins. The labyrinth of gray cement canvas walls have and continue to be transformed into a colorful outdoor, rogue street art gallery.
