North Oakland Temporary Museum Annex

Friday, June 01, 2007

Scott MacLeod Drawings 1960-1962:
Adventure & Exploration

Climbing a Tree with a Knife, Dog Helping by Jumping, 1962

Brave Lion Tamer in Lion's Cage, 1960

Seamonster Battle, 1961

I strongly suspect this was influenced by reading Jules Verne's Journey To The Center of the Earth.

Scuba Diving Near the Ship, 1960

Kon-Tiki, 1960

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.

Arctic Snow Bus, 1960

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.

Microwave Missile Control, 1960

Moon Landing, 1960

Crane Explores Moon, 1960

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?