It may seem like a work of folk art straight from the Appalachians, but a home in Houston, Texas that is covered in flattened beer cans actually came about because of an aluminum siding craze in the ’70s.
Former owner John Milkovisch was well-known for his love of keeping everything, including thousands of beer cans that eventually became decoration for the home he shared with wife Mary. Growing up during the Depression, The Milkovischs were accustomed to saving everything for future use, a way of life some think we could all benefit from. For arts lovers in the area, the home represents the way art affects us all.
“It shows the human nature of the individual is supreme. You can take the simplest thing, and it can actually affect a lot of other people,” said Houston resident Patrick Louque. “It’s totally grabbed me, and it’s probably totally grabbed the imagination of more people than I could possibly imagine.”
Orange Show Center for Visionary Art bought the property a decade ago with the intent to preserve it for future generations, and have restored it. Now, it’s open to the public, but Milkovisch is quoted as saying he doesn’t think what he did is so special.
“Some people say this is sculpture but I didn’t go to no expensive school to get these crazy notions,” he said.
“The funny thing is that it wasn’t … to attract attention,” said Ruben Guevara, head of restoration and preservation of the Beer Can House. “He said himself that if there was a house similar to this a block away, he wouldn’t take the time to go look at it. He had no idea what was the fascination about what he was doing.”
