The Space Trucks "Space Garage" Blog on Vintage Pop Culture Ephemera, Space Toys, Space Art, Science Fiction and Rock & Roll

Some of my favorite Space Truckers.

 https://spacetrucks.blogspot.com/ is the other blog feed on this Toys As Art project. I'm regarding it as the Culture Of Collecting part of the project where I share the space bling I've collected + what I've been able to learn about it with both other collectors and casual space rockers. 

The Dude, or my "Major Tom", 54mm with fitted helmet, 1952. I have other Major Toms too.

I came up with the name Space.Trucks as a descriptive term for the kind of stuff I'm drawn to, usually work related space age ground vehicles. Old archaic looking helicopters too, and Cold War era space adventurers who eventually ditched the ray guns & atom bombs for cameras and sample collection sticks. The crew of my favorite film ALIEN from 1979 are also often referred to as Space Truckers working a huge hauling rig resembling the inside of a B-52 bomber. And that's cool.

Lido Toys Captain Video & Futureman figures with a section of tin litho space port wall from a playset for the line concocted by T. Cohn Superior in 1952. On my Bucket List.

The Space Trucks posts are usually about the older toy forms I've found inspiration from, with lots of pictures and usually a video upload where I open up the arriving box as an ongoing performance art project. I checked, it's valid: Opening your mail on camera counts as performance art, or it can. I try to mix the procedure up with pop culture clips or other non-sequitor distractions to result in an enjoyable viewing experience even for those who do not share the enthusiasm. I strongly feel that art should be fun, when appropriate, or at least enjoyable.

Click here to open video in a new window for full screen viewing option.

Short subject upload from my YouTube introducing Kellogg's absurd alien robot names for the Lido characters from a 1955 Corn Flakes promotion.

I also wanted to note that my goal is to usually work these posts as shorter subject fare rather than long rambling hyperbole about esoteric personal interests. But right now we're sort of unloading 3+ years of content that accumulated during the time spent helping to care for Mom and did not have much room for sharing my creative energies beyond basic social media, let alone in gallery type settings. 

So some of what's turning up right now is admittedly breathless from having waited so long to be told. I am enjoying having that pressure vent off at last!! and looking forward to working both blogs like a remote job of some kind, with brevity and humor always being my objective.

Painting from 2020 using a larger Lido "Futureman" figure as an outline for the old Larry Rivers routine. Worked on it with Mom at our dining room table studio during the height of the pandemic. Unfinished, 32x24 pastel and acrylics on canvas board.

It took four years to complete a set of one each of their possible twelve poses, during which I learned all I could about the company which made them, the show they promoted, and other forms of that era.

Here's today's Culture of Collection item from the Space Trucks blog featuring my favorite of the pioneering early 1950s space bling, Lido Toy's insane Captain Video and his Video Rangers mayhem 1952 - 1955.

spacetrucks.blogspot.com/2023/05/lido-toys-35mm-captain-video-post.html

We share it here hoping it can provide some quasi-academic grounding for how this project came about, trying to help others understand the form and spread the collecting culture among like minded geeks the world over.

How about that for a big painting, 5x12 feet or so, either on canvas or as a mural. Like a big busy Hieronymous Bosch crowd scene with these jabbering creatures waving their arms excitedly. Using my painterly edge in acrylics, working the surface textures, weird details and pop cartoon colors. All I need is a projector to trace the outlines and enough room to swing a hammer while building the stretcher.

Check back soon for more.