Counter Cowboy Part II

LOCATION: Visions West Contemporary - 2605 Walnut St

CATEGORY: Art Events

PAST DATE AND TIME:

• Fri, Jan 5, 2024 - Sat, Feb 17, 2024  

Visions West Contemporary is proud to announce Counter Cowboy Part II. The group exhibition will include the work of Napoleon Aguilera, Jenny Day, Fort Lonesome, June Glasson, Grace Kennison, Crystal Latimer, Jennifer Nehrbass, Mike Piggott, Humberto Ramirez, Jane Reichle, Billy Schenck, Jed Smith, Travis Walker, and Alix Ziv.

An opening celebration will be held on Friday, January 5th from 6:00 - 8:00 pm.

(Image: Grace Kennison: In My End Is My Beginning, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 18 x 16 x 2 inches)

ABOUT

Counter Cowboy II examines the multifaceted western experiences and voices and its influence on America. The American West has saturated the imagination of Americans for decades and out of the myth has come a radical new folklore for our times. The west is much more than a place; it is a space in the American psyche. While it is generally agreed that the region corresponds to the entire territory lying west of the 98th meridian, it is hard to locate on a map. it is a symbol of strength, individualism and struggle that stems from roots that are uniquely American and yet embrace a deep diversity of voices.

Visions West Contemporary focuses mainly on the myriad diversity of voices of the often-overlooked figures of the west past, present and future. It has been said that the American intellect and character owes its striking characteristics to the frontier such as individualism, energy, optimism, and enthusiasm. The west seemed to escape the colonialism that pervaded and shaped the eastern and southern portions of North and South America. Because of an unbridled and sometimes challenging and dangerous wilderness, the west was a place that drew those with a more adventurous, spirited, and pioneering constitution. The west took travelers from the railroad car and put them in the canoe or on horseback. It striped off the garments of civilization and put the necessities of a hunting shirt and the moccasins at the forefront of survival. The history of all the actors of the western past: men, women, families, African Americans, Chinese, Mexicans, and Native Americans were a tough and individual lot.

The Western past is not a one-dimensional story of white men marching westward and replacing savagery by civilization, resulting in the ennoblement of the American character, but a multicultural tale highlighting ethnic and racial diversity, with people coming from the East, but also from the North, the South, and the West. Neither is it the story of the unique and exceptional subduing of an empty land, but a tale woven of many stories and voices that echo through past, present, and future.