Mid-Century Western

LOCATION: Visions West Contemporary - 2605 Walnut St

CATEGORY: Art Events

UPCOMING DATE AND TIME:

• Fri, Dec 12, 2025 - Fri, Jan 9, 2026  

Visions West Contemporary is thrilled to announce "Mid-Century Western," a solo exhibition of new works by Fort Collins-based artist Tracy Stuckey. The show will open on Friday, December 12, 2025, with a public reception from 6–8 pm at the gallery's Denver location.

This new body of work investigates one of the main dichotomies within the Western genre, the opposition between the interior and the exterior, or the domestic and the wilderness. The mythology of the American West has long been constructed around notions of wildness, expansion, and untamed space, it is defined in contrast to the East, which symbolizes order, industry, and civilization. This contrast of characteristics provides a framework through which Tracy explores ideas of space, representation, and cultural identity.

In these new paintings, Tracy tries to collapse and reconfigure these boundaries. The elements of interiors and exteriors are rearranged, dislocated, and made to coexist within a shared picture plane. What traditionally belongs indoors appears outdoors, and what we think of belonging to the landscape is now placed into a domestic setting. The work reimagines familiar symbols into contradictory contexts, fashion logos become petroglyphs etched into rock, or cowboys stage cinematic showdowns with a television set. These inversions question how the Western continues to operate as both image and ideology.

Another key element in this work is mid-century modern design and architecture. A defining feature of mid-century living spaces was their effort to connect interior and exterior environments through natural materials and expansive windows that dissolved the boundary between them. Though not unique to the American West, mid-century modern design is closely associated with cities such as Los Angeles and Palm Springs. These cities themselves evoke the mythos of Hollywood as well as the cinematic Western.

The figures in Tracy's paintings often appear to inhabit a nostalgic fantasy of the Old West shaped by film, advertising, and popular culture. However, subtle elements such as contemporary fashion emblems, plastic toy guns, and other synthetic details help viewers realize this is all for show. The work, ultimately, reflects on how the Western persists as a place of fantasy, nostalgia, and a constructed identity.

Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday from 10:30 am to 5:30 pm.