Wall sculpture built near Palm Desert hiking trail

Visitors hiking on up to the Cross in Palm Desert got a new sight to see as a wall sculpture was placed at the trailhead. Many of them saw the sculpture over the weekend and were curious.

According to a group of people working on the sculpture, it’s part of different displays throughout the Valley as part of the Desert X or Desert Exhibition of Art. The display is called Curves and Zig Zags and was created by Swiss artist Claudia Comte.

“It’s a curvy structure which begins in a zigzag shape and ends in a curvy shape so it’s like morphing from zigzag to curves,” Laurent Koopf, an artist assistant, said.

The display is approximately 100 feet long and had been at the trailhead since last week.

Some hikers thought the wall was some sort of political statement but Koopf said that was not the case as the sculpture was nonpolitical.

That didn’t hiker Pam Taylor from having the idea in her head.

“Look at this wall in the middle of the desert, you know. So even though that wasn’t the intent because of the political situation that there were a lot of comments about a wall and lots of jokes about why here….?” Taylor said.

Another hiker said he was glad to see a piece of art pop up in the desert.

“I thought this is great because it changes the whole landscape,” David Mullaly said. “You know, you got the desert and all of a sudden this man-made thing but it flows with nature and everything so I fell love with it.” The wall sculpture will be completed by Monday according to Koopf. It will remain at the trail head until the conclusion of Desert X on April 30. More information about the sculpture can be found here.

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Hiking up to the Cross in Palm Desert is common for outdoor enthusiasts in the desert, but seeing a wall sculpture near the trailhead, is new.

Some hikers saw the sculpture over the weekend and many were curious if it was put there to make some sort of political statement.

KESQ and CBS Local 2’s Jeremy Chen spoke to the artist behind the sculpture on Monday to get more details. He also spoke to local hikers to hear their thoughts about the new scenery near the trailhead.

We’ll introduce you to the artist and share the story behind the new sculpture on KESQ News Channel 3 at 5 p.m. and on CBS Local 2 at 5:30 p.m.