North Oakland Temporary Museum Annex

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Scott MacLeod Drawings 1960-1962: Part 4: Sports

For some reason I call this one "Kick Boy" instead of, for instance "Soccer Player." Is he even playing soccer? Maybe he's just thrown a slider in a fast-pitch softball game. As you can see it's dated 1962 - and who knows what lurks in the mind of an almost-six-year-old?

Curse & Carts, 1960

So this exhibit is loosely about sports, though why I was so obsessed at this young age with, of all things, golf and archery, is beyond me. The golfer above seems to be cursing, possibly at the young men who are racing golf carts up & down the fairway just below the green on which his 9-foor downhill putt has just bounced out of the hole because his caddie didn't remove the flag.

I've only played golf maybe five times in my life. The most fun was at Steve Williams' "Trimmer's Invitational" in Denver in late 70's or early 80's. I thought I might have a shot at the worst golfer trophy when I shot a 72 on the front nine, but Steve had imported a ringer, his old friend Kirk, who'd been living in New Jersey.

Kirk had kept me alive during June of 1976 by buying me short-stacks at The Aristocrat Steakhouse in Boulder every morning. Kirk's girlfriend kept him & me alive by dropping off a raw chicken & a bottle of anisette every afternoon. Anyway it was good to see Kirk again but he "beat" me by two strokes. There's no real charm in being the "second-worst" golfer. We did race golf-carts & almost flipped one, which would have been a shame, because we were carrying two cases of Heineken bottles.

Golf & Trampoline, 1960

The golfer in the second drawing seems to have hooked his shot off the green onto a trampoline or into a backyard swimming pool, starling the man who is reading the newspaper or carrying a gift-wrapped bottle of Campari to the pool party.

Golf & Archery Couple, 1960

Here we hearken back to golf's origins in Scotland, land of funny hats. Apparently they used to have two-hole greens. And below there seems to be a bride attempting to arrange her own shotgun wedding to a man in a bowler hat who has the arrow facing the right direction but the bow not.

Archer & MASH, 1960

This could be "Hawkeye" Pierce taking a break....except that M.A.S.H. didnt exist yet.

Indian Archer, 1960

These two drawings are not so much about sport as they are existential snapshots of the plight of the young native american male, as seen through the filters of Hollywood & a 4-year-old's brain.

Indian Archer on Cliff, 1960

Miniature Golf, Giant Croquet, 1960

I used to love miniature golf. Best courses I ever played on were the Eibsee Hotel's course & a concrete course atop the beach dunes in Noordwijk aan Zee.

Sport-fishing, 1960

Car Race & Tripping, 1960

The excitement of the Indy 500 seems to be knocking that man right out of his lawn chair!