Machine Man Art Series

Robert Templeton

Before fate landed him in the White House and on the pages of People magazine (Feb.19, 1979), which reported the controversy surrounding his painting of President Carter, and long before he was involved in the Detroit riots (TIME cover Aug.4, 1967), Robert Templeton was peacefully painting in the Midwest, impressed by the vastness of the land, its expanse cut by the ribbons of highways, the stillness of the cornfields broken by the roar of trucks. Templeton was fascinated by these powerful machines barreling through the countryside, the driver being at once master and slave to their functioning during grueling twelve, fourteen-hour days. This dualism is expressed in Templeton's 'Long Distance Driver', and 'GO STOP GAS EAT', the former showing the trucker trapped in his cab, the latter implying that his day is defined by the requirements of his truck.

In other work Templeton illustrates the driver's anonymity on the road with constructions, which show the driver only as a blurred rearview mirror reflection. The landscape itself is seen through windshields and in mirror reflections. The effect is a sense of the driver's detachment and isolation not only from his immediate surroundings, but also from his fellowman, machine and man fused together in high energy performance. Templeton felt that the automobile has had an enormous impact on our lives.

In this series of truck and highway paintings he deals with this 20th century phenomenon in an imaginative way.

First exhibited in 1964 in New York to critical acclaim, the "Machine Man" exhibit was most recently on dispay in 2004 at a held over exhibit at the inauguration of the Guerrera Gallery at the Golden Age of Trucking Museum in Middlebury, Connecticut.

What the critics said about the collection in 1964:

'…the artist employs paint with warmth, and his constructions done with real rear-view mirrors, are striking' The Herald Tribune

'…the idea is good, the approach frequently ingenious' The New York Times
'This work presents an American phenomenon in a refreshing manner…' Park East Art

Go Stop Ruan

Acrylic on three wood panels - 9ft x 6ft 8in.

Long Distance Driver

Multi-media shadowbox construction showing three different views of the approaching truck gives the viewer a sense of energy in motion, while the repeated image of the trucker symbolizes the intense, repetitive act of driving during long, grueling hours.

38" x 33" - Multimedia