 Overall View |
 The Tower |
 Rear View with Fountain |
MIRABILIS STATVARIVS
VEHICVLVM
by Scot "Extremo the Clown"
Campbell
MSV was clearly the sensation of the Art Car Blow-Out.
It drove off with prizes for Best of Show (Popular Choice), Best of Show (Artists' Choice), and Best Sculpture. But more than that, it raised the consciousness of spectators and car artists alike as to what heights (what lunatic heights) art car artistry can ascend.
A sort of Gothic Munster-Mobile, resembling an Indian temple in the density of its carving, MSV is an inspired work executed with manic energy and consummate artistry. The carvings are a cast resin, painted to look like stone and bronze, but actually quite lightweight; they are installed over the shell of a vintage Mazda sedan and weigh about 300 lbs. The car features external coach lanterns with candles; live ivy growing atop the 11-foot high central massif; high-relief portraits of Scot, his wife Audrey, and their daughter on the hood; a twirling disk with a high-relief head of Extremo the Clown on the front of "The Tower," and a real, honest-to-goodness working fountain. Water for the fountain pours from the mouth of a scary gargoyle head on the rear of the Tower into a two-level pool on the trunk lid, and then is recirculated back by a pump built into the trunk. People throw coins into the fountain. It loses its water on the freeway. But this is a small price to pay to drive one of the greatest art cars of all time.
Scot Campbell is an artist and entertainer living in Portland, Oregon. When he's not busy clowning around, he makes a good living painting advertising cartoons inside store windows around ol' metro PDX. His painting is showcased elsewhere on this page--on the hood of Li'l Weenie Kween's pickup--a portrait of owner Melinda McAllister (who really looks just like that, except her skin's not quite so blue). In '98 Scot and Audrey Campbell hosted and masterminded the best ever (and last) Portland Madcap Motorcade, in which 74 Art Cars and a dozen or so Klassic and Kustom Kars paraded.
Extremo was also good enough to script and emcee the Fashion Show and Awards Ceremony at the Art Car Blow-Out, introducing the extremest in fashion outerwear bras for both genders, and giving host Art Car Guru Dr. Schlock a pie in the face for his trouble.
Zap Back to Art Car Blow-Out! Pictures Page
Blast to Seattle Art Car Squadron Home Page
Check out Cacophony Society Web Site
