“David Malcolm Rose: The Lost Highway” is a collection of miniature scale models of businesses that represent a trip down memory lane in exquisite detail.
Editors Note: David Malcolm Rose: The Lost Highway – a unique collection of miniature scale models of businesses – has found a home at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum, 1601 Rogers Avenue, Fort Smith, AR, from September 24, 2021, through January 30, 2022. It’s well worth the visit if you’re in the area.
By David Rose
When I started driving around this country in the late sixties the interstate was the exception rather than the rule. Even where the interstate was complete, the interchanges were barren. In order to get gas, food, or lodging, one had to leave the four-lane and drive a mile or so into town.
Twenty years brought about a complete reversal in many places. All services became available along the limited access highway while many of the small businesses that once served motorists were abandoned.
One could still get a tank of gas, burgers, and fries, and a room for the night at almost every exit, but, in all probability, it would be a Shell Superstop, Burger King, Holiday Inn, or some other chain outlet. The interstate system provided a breeding ground and conduit for the chains that came to dominate almost every aspect of our lives.
The nation rapidly became homogenized. The services were still there, but the independent operator was gone. Gone also, to a great degree, was individual thought, originality, and regional diversity. Driving the old road, the remains of commercial buildings could still be seen and my work sprang from these. I tried to create a portrait of the people who made their living by the side of the road and tell the story of the end of an era.This exhibit will contain miniature scale models of Lost Highway businesses, paintings of businesses long forgotten along the Lost Highway, and a retrospective of the artist, David Malcolm Rose. For more information about the exhibit, visit www.fsram.org.
