Featured image credit: RoboLights Facebook Page
Christmas in Palm Springs is a special time where time-honored tradition intersects with yuletide camp in a distinctly sweet seasonal cocktail you won’t find anywhere else. But for many longtime residents of the Coachella Valley, it’s not quite Christmas without Robolights. If you’re asking ‘What’s Robolights?”, there’s no way you could possibly expect the answer. Words can’t encompass it. But since this is a blog, we’ll try anyway. Robolights is an ever-expanding 4-acre art installation consisting of neon robot sculptures decked out in literal millions of Christmas lights. With werewolves. And flamingos. And soldiers. We told you.
The Dream World of Kenny Irwin, Jr.
Artist Kenny Irwin, Jr. was born in Palm Springs in May 1974. You could argue that Robolights was born with him. The artist claims that dating back to his infancy, he dreamt of a galactic realm populated by advanced robots, unknown life forms, and a vivid coherence rare for the human subconscious. The first son in a family in which he was preceded by eight older sisters (though he’d later have a brother), Irwin expressed an instant creativity that his large family nurtured. At just nine years old, Irwin crafted his first robot; a looming wooden effigy of technology measuring in at 10 feet tall.
Irwin’s upbringing allowed him plenty of liberty to explore his interests. He converted to the Muslim religion while continuing to serve as an active receptor to inspirational dreams that transcended spirituality and technology. With a rare gift of recalling dreams (estimated in the thousands) with crystal clarity, Irwin drew inspiration from a myriad of sources including his own subconscious world.
Irwin’s father, resort owner and fellow artist Ken Irwin, Sr., recognized his son’s gifted mind and encouraged him to consider the family home his canvas. And thus the green light shone for what would become one of Southern California’s oddest, yet most endearingly authentic attractions.
Blasting Off
As he grew older, Irwin’s creativity held no regard for boundaries. And when it did, it simply incorporated them. Take, for example, his one-bedroom apartment where he resided while studying at Oakland’s California College of the Arts. Incorporating thousands of rolls of duct tape, thousands of pounds of tin foil, 61 televisions, and 33 personal computers, he redesigned the midcentury apartment to resemble a retrofuturistic spacecraft.
But anyone familiar with Robolights knows that a spaceship installation is rather straightforward for Irwin. Rest assured that he maintained two hidden compartments beneath his bed. The first housed a full-sized piano. The second: a series of fish bowls populated with live piranhas.
RoboLights Sets a New Tradition for Christmas in Palm Springs
But what would easily become Irwin’s masterpiece was still growing back at home in Palm Springs. The family property at 1077 E Granvia Valmonte had become consumed by neon cybernetic superbeings, dayglo obelisks of absurdity, and lights upon lights upon lights. Since 1986, when Irwin was just 12 years old, he’d been toiling away at a DIY sci-fi epic that would become synonymous with Christmas in Palm Springs. That first year, Irwin installed over 15,000 Christmas lights accentuating robot statues assembled from discarded circuitry and junkyard scraps. A little over a decade later, the Christmas lights would number just over 6 million.
The family home became Irwin’s workshop, where he’d regularly work on his art, mostly robots, nearly almost every day of the year, often up to 12 hours a day. He’s constructed well over 200 robot sculptures of various sizes. Some colossal models even tower over the home at 68 feet and weigh in at over 50 tons. Irwin works almost exclusively with recycled material, making him one of the most prolific found artists in the country.
Prime Time RoboLights
In its prime, a stroll through RoboLights would reveal too many sights for the human mind to adequately process. A demonic Jack Frost leers from a dark recess guarding pathways to a sequin-studded car bisected by what looks like a fallen, strobing space station. Santa Claus mounts a golden chariot hauled by lithe mannequins sporting antlers. Cyber knights crack their yellow helms to reveal scowling skulls. A pink mummy slumbers in a matching sarcophagus, its television head forever darkened. Elves battle one another in a post-apocalyptic warzone. RoboLights is the true definition of “everything, everywhere, all at once.”
Whether genius or insanity, RoboLights created spectacle, which is often all that Southern California asks. People traveled from around the world to spend Christmas in Palm Springs, touring the unlikely desert installation. By 2018, Irwin’s winter wonderland sprawled across two acres and entertained over 60,000 guests. And even when the gates were closed, cars would line up to catch glimpses of the strobing creations towering behind the palms and shrubs. You could feasibly see RoboLights any time of the year. But the installation emphasized a distinct seasonal theme that made it particularly popular in December.
Intruder Alert
Yet, not everyone was feeling the spirit. Adding even more to its unlikely nature, RoboLights was located smack dab in the middle of the luxury Movie Colony neighborhood. The former Sinatra home was just a stone’s throw away. Neighbors looking forward to a peaceful holiday season got a rude awakening when RoboLights hit its peak. And the complaints had already been building for years.
But angry neighbors were the least of Irwin’s concerns. In 2009, thieves stole sculptures and lights from the installation. And as it grew in leaps and bounds, so did its maintenance costs. By 2012, Irwin started requesting donations to keep RoboLights operational. Due to zoning restrictions, he couldn’t legally charge admission.
Then, in 2016, RoboLights was struck a blow that not even its legion of robots could deflect. An electrical fire near the home’s pool erupted. Though damage was minimal and no one was injured, it got the attention of the City of Palm Springs who sent out an inspector to make sure the premises was up to code. The inspection cited some of the statues on the home’s roof as potential hazards. When Irwin opted not to comply with the citation, the city filed a lawsuit against him. The suit was settled in 2017 with Irwin agreeing to seek a permit for RoboLights and fund a civic program to reduce trash and vehicular traffic.
Dimming the RoboLights
Surrounded by angry neighbors and with an entire city against him, Irwin decided to dim the lights after the 2018 holiday season. Guests turned out like it was the last Christmas in Palm Springs. But Irwin was already contemplating a less restrictive future for RoboLights. As early as 2015, he had publicly discussed expanding the attraction into an amusement art park. In this way, RoboLights somewhat paralleled the Luna Luna art installation that we covered in our blog last year.
By September of 2019, Irwin revealed his ambitious plan to move his four-acre RoboLights installation to 10 acres of commercial land he’d purchased in Desert Hot Springs for $350,000 with Palm Springs footing $125,000 of that bill. As of the writing of this blog, that move has not taken place. The new location remains a derelict structure at the end of a barricaded private road. And back in Movie Colony, passersby can still clearly see the vibrant robots of RoboLights in place.
Mark Your Calender for Valloween
At least on some level, Irwin is moving forward with his plans for RoboLights’ future. In the 2020 holiday season, the artist allowed guests to visit RoboLights by pre-arranged appointment. However, throughout the pandemic, access to the property was closed. But Irwin is again accepting appointments to visit RoboLights while he prepares for the next phase of his vision.
While the current iteration doesn’t sparkle with the illumination it boasted in its prime, Irwin is certain that it’s just a matter of time. He’s even discussed some of the plans he holds for RoboLights when it relocates to its more expansive home. New installations will touch on a hybrid holiday that combines Valentine’s Day and Halloween called Valloween. He’s even planning an immersive ride that he calls the Valloween Tunnel of Love.
Another Dark Christmas in Palm Springs
As Irwin continues to raise money for RoboLights’ future, his artistry has also gained more recognition. In 2019, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit held an exhibition of Irwin’s work. They also published an accompanying book entitled Kenny Irwin: The RoboLights Project, Palm Springs 1986 – 2017. Irwin is directly raising funds by selling robot sculptures through his Facebook page. Appointments to see RoboLights can be made by sending a text to (760) 774-0318. In the meantime, those ready to trade a white Christmas in Palm Springs for a neon pink, yellow, green, or orange one with golden mannequin reindeer are just going to have to hold on a while longer.
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