The American West has been idealized throughout history, transformed into a physical and cultural icon. As the frontier ended, the cowboy way of life and the landscape itself came to be highly romanticized through dime novels and the Wild West shows of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In the 1920s, the creation of Western films further etched the image of the iconic West and its characters into the American psyche. From then on, the cowboy became a symbol of the American ethos. “Western” has become a brand used to signify certain physical and psychological characteristics. John Wayne, the Marlboro Man, and Monument Valley are products as well as producers of this glamorization.

In my work, I combine stereotypical Western characters and themes with pop cultural depictions of the region and its inhabitants to reflect my own interpretations of the contemporary West. My paintings rely heavily on Western novels, pulp covers, music, film, and fashion advertisements.

Featured on the NAP/Blog:
October 31, 2013