This page was created by Multiple Authors.  The last update was by Paul A. Harris.

The Petriverse of Pierre Jardin: by Paul A. Harris Main Menu Paul A. Harris

Twin Conception (Intro 2)

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The Petriverse is a xeriscape in the California Heights neighborhood of Long Beach, California, where many residents have taken advantage of a city program that subsidizes the conversion of grass lawns into drought tolerant landscapes. It earned the designation "A rock garden where Nothing is written in stone" due to two distinctive features: 1) rock displays are always changing and 2) rocks are used to form words. Yet The Petriverse's larger purpose and meaning remain obscure. Consequently, conjectures abound around this astounding suburban plot: is it a Bobo zen garden? a stoner's outsider art environment?  a slow time zone for aeonic contemplation?
Similarly, the property's proprietor Pierre Jardin remains a shadowy figure of indeterminate origin. Garden and gardener are twins seeded by coincident conception: the Petriverse is Jardin's brainchild; Jardin is the Petriverse's brain-child. A rock gardener who has made a spurious name for himself, Jardin ekes out a precarious persistence in an imaginal realm. He lives through projection and assumes avatars of various lithic doppelgangers, including The Sandstone Man. Clues found in Petriverse blog posts and Slow Times newsletters suggest possible precursors for Pierre, including Mr. Palomar, an Italian cosmic-comedic contemplative, and Kai-Wa, a Franco-Chinese ex-surrealist specialist in stone speculations.  

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  1. Apprenticeship to Stone Paul A. Harris

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