North Oakland Temporary Museum Annex
Friday, June 01, 2007


The square-rigging & the scale have me convinced this is my version of Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki expedition. Being only 4 years old, I wouldn't have read his 1950 book yet (I did that in maybe 1966) but I probably saw the 1951 movie.

I have always had a penchant for drawing similar types of conveyances, be they submarines, space ships, planetary exploration shuttles, Arctic half-tracks, etc. The scale of the vehicles is always important to me, as is the relative quantities & designs of windows within the larger structure. I get a strong feeling of security, thrill, empowerment & satisfaction from thinking about & drawing these types of mobile spaces. I believe this is very strongly related to issues discussed in this article by Arthur B. Evans on Jules Verne's "vehicular utopias" & is also related to the initial allure of proto-SUVs such as vintage Jeeps, Land Rovers & Toyota Landcruisers.



Your basic space exploration story. First, while hidden at your secret camouflaged log cabin base, you launch your space missile with your microwave oven. Then you land on the the moon. Then you bring in the heavy construction equipment. Perhaps exploration & development always go hand in hand. I tend to think of it as ontological imperialism. What is a four-year-old child anyway? An ontological imperialist / desiring machine - or a victim transfixed by photons & radiations & perturbations? And what about dark matter - what's that about?