Description
“Shalako”
collage, acrylic, spray paint, oil on canvas
8x8x2″, 2022
With Westerns, it’s usually the same stories over and over again. Liberal individualism. Masculinity continually re-enforced through soft core violence porn coupled with heavy handed writing. There is FREEDOM! and UNFREEDOM! and not lots of acreage in between. There is the overlying assumption that “the conditions of the frontier makes us ALL equal”. Contemporary Westerns written by white folks will occasionally center People of Color but usually without naming settler colonialism or racism or the countless other systems of oppression that implicitly and explicitly structure this Nation. The belief of regeneration through violence is not one I consent to. I am drawn to Westerns for many of the same seductive, land of make believe reasons that I’m guessing have hooked millions of others before me. But, I refuse to believe that the Western genre cannot go through a major reckoning and survive. In my current process I’m thinking about my work as Revisionist Western and am drawn to artists and writers who believe that the Western genre will get better and braver once it gets way more vulnerable with it’s sins. I believe in Westerns that are far more inclusive of those voices that have been purposely silenced in the the bloody berth of this Nation’s history.
Art is revolution and collecting art is a powerful way to add beauty, meaning and inspiration to one’s life. It can happen at any budget level and payment over multiple installments is always an option, it’s how I collect art myself. Please ask if you’re curious, send me a message at [email protected] and we can figure out a plan that works for you to get the piece of your dreams.
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