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Rear of Concrete Dinosaur. I-10/US 60, Cabazon, California
Rear of Concrete Dinosaur. I-10/US 60, Cabazon, California

Rear of Concrete Dinosaur. I-10/US 60, Cabazon, California

Former TitleConcrete Dinosaur from Rear at Truck Stop, I-10, Carbazon, CA
Artist Jim Dow (American, born 1942)
Date1975
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 7 11/16 × 9 11/16 inches (19.53 × 24.61 cm)
Sheet: 11 × 10 3/4 inches (27.94 × 27.31 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation
Object number2018.51.12
SignedSigned on sheet verso, bottom, in pencil.
InscribedTitled, dated, and editioned on sheet verso, bottom, in pencil: "CONCRETE DINOSAUR FROM REAR @TRUCK STOP. I10, CARBAZON, CA 1975. #1/25"
Markingsnone
Edition/State/Proofed. 1/25
On View
Not on view
Collections
DescriptionImage of a concrete structure in the shape of a dinosaur; image taken from behind so we see his tail curling around four small succulents - each surrounded by a circle of rocks. There is a door near the center of his tail and an upper balcony on the left side of his torso. The head of the dinosaur peaks around the tail near the left edge of the frame.Gallery Label

This concrete dinosaur was a large-scale replica of “Dino,” the mascot of the Sinclair oil corporation. Sinclair chose a dinosaur for its logo, believing it to be an apt symbol for its product: crude oil extracted from the earth, which purportedly dated back to the Mesozoic era. The company debuted the friendly Apatosaurus (then called a Brontosaurus) in the 1930s and used it in subsequent marketing campaigns at various gas stations across the country.

 

Dow photographed it from the rear at one such site in Cabazon, California, using a lens that created a round, vignetted border. This framing echoes the creature’s curled tail.

Provenance
The Hall Family Foundation, Kansas City, MO, 2018;   
Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2018.
Copyright© Jim Dow
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