GALLERY GRAPHICS - FINAL ART ANDY WARHOL: COWBOYS AND INDIANS; BILLY SCHENCK: MYTH OF THE WEST

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1 - ; Title Wall Donor Wall Andy Warhol: - Wall Text - Object Labels Billy Schenck: - Wall Text - Object Labels 1

2 TITLE WALL PLAN VIEW: WALLS ARE SPLIT FRONT VIEW 1/2 = 1-0 2

3 WARHOL:SECONDARY TEXT PANEL Exhibitions organized by the Briscoe Western Art Museum. Presenting sponsorship generously provided by Wyatt Ranches. Host Committee Sponsored by the City of San Antonio Department of Arts and Culture. Additional support made possible by Jack and Valerie Guenther, Billy Schenck, and the Host Committee. FRONT VIEW 1/2 = 1-0 Host Committee 3

4 WARHOL: INTRO TEXT PANEL FRONT VIEW 1/2 = 1-0 4

5 WARHOL:SECONDARY TEXT PANEL FRONT VIEW 1/2 = 1-0 5

6 WARHOL: WALL QUOTE Isn t life a series of images that change as they repeat themselves? Andy Warhol FRONT VIEW NTS 6

7 WARHOL: OBJECT LABELS TEDDY ROOSEVELT, 1986 L INDIAN HEAD NICKEL, 1986 L x 4 GERONIMO, 1986 L MOTHER AND CHILD, 1986 L x 4 7

8 WARHOL: OBJECT LABELS PLAINS INDIAN SHIELD, 1986 L KACHINA DOLLS, 1986 L NORTHWEST COAST MASK, 1986 L GENERAL CUSTER, 1986 L

9 WARHOL: OBJECT LABELS ANNIE OAKLEY, 1986 L JOHN WAYNE, 1986 L x 4 6 x 4 SITTING BULL III, 1986 WAR BONNET INDIAN, 1986 L L

10 WARHOL: OBJECT LABELS ACTION PICTURE, 1986 BUFFALO NICKEL, 1986 L L x 4 10

11 SCHENCK: SECTION PANEL 1 MYTH OF THE WEST From the start, Billy Schenck based his paintings on Hollywood interpretations of a mythic Old West. MYTH OF THE WEST By the 1980s, Billy Schenck began replacing of Western landscapes and the traditions those traditional Hollywood fantasies with his own versions of a mythic New West. Schenck s New West satirized Hollywood icons, urban cowboys, and women with guns. Along the way, he introduced a narrative to his paintings through the use of captions and recurring characters. Cliff became the first of Schenck s mythological cowboy commentators, followed by Geoff of people living in this arid, remote, and epic land. As Schenck photographed his own contemporary rodeo and ranch life, the artist internalized a double standard between myth and history in the American West that grew so deep he embodied the notion in his Double Standard Ranch, near Santa Fe, New Mexico. Photographing Native American rodeos as source material From the start, Billy Schenck based his paintings on Hollywood interpretations of a mythic Old West. and then Phaedra, whom he borrowed from for his paintings intensified his feelings. Greek mythology and transplanted to the Schenck concentrated his work on Navajo American Southwest. These characters sheepherders, Navajos on horseback, and FRONT VIEW 1/2 = 1-0 allowed Schenck to explore a social and political commentary that could lead to universal truths and lies. other subjects and themes related to Navajo Country in the Four Corners region of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah. More recently, he has added Pueblo cultures By the 1980s, Billy Schenck began replacing those traditional Hollywood fantasies with his own versions of a mythic New West. Schenck s New West satirized Hollywood icons, urban cowboys, and women with guns. Along the way, he introduced a narrative to his paintings through the use of captions and recurring characters. Cliff became the first of Schenck s mythological cowboy commentators, followed by Geoff and then Phaedra, whom he borrowed from Greek mythology and transplanted to the American Southwest. These characters allowed Schenck to explore a social and political commentary that could lead to universal truths and lies. In the 1990s, Schenck developed what he called a deep appreciation for the uniqueness of Western landscapes and the traditions of people living in this arid, remote, and epic land. As Schenck photographed his own contemporary rodeo and ranch life, the artist internalized a double standard between myth and history in the American West that grew so deep he embodied the notion in his Double Standard Ranch, near Santa Fe, New Mexico. Photographing Native American rodeos as source material for his paintings intensified his feelings. Schenck concentrated his work on Navajo sheepherders, Navajos on horseback, and other subjects and themes related to Navajo Country in the Four Corners region of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah. More recently, he has added Pueblo cultures to his ever-expanding universe of Southwestern Cultures. 11

12 SCHENCK: SECTION PANEL 2 ROOTS OF WESTERN POP Andy Warhol s Elvis Presley series appropriated from Twentieth Century Fox s Flaming Star provided the spark that ignited the Western Pop movement. Billy Schenck s paintings stood out in the New York art scene during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Awestruck by the sweeping imagery in Sergio Leone s Spaghetti Westerns, Schenck found a steady supply of source material in promotional photographs from the Western film genre. Citing Warhol s Elvis Presley as a key inspiration, Schenck adopted Warhol s techniques in his shift to integrate photo-based imagery in his work. ROOTS OF WESTERN POP As Schenck embraced Warhol s techniques and applied them to Western themes and subjects, he became known in Western art circles as the Warhol of the West and carved out a niche within the Western art genre. Schenck projected black and white movie stills onto stretched canvas, then traced ink outlines separating areas of light and shadow before applying color in his paint-by-numbers technique. Flat, reductive, and sharply defined images became the hallmarks of his paintings. Andy Warhol s Elvis Presley series appropriated from Twentieth Century Fox s Flaming Star provided the spark that ignited the Western Pop movement. FRONT VIEW 1/2 = 1-0 Andy Warhol, Triple Elvis [Ferus type], 1963, Silver paint, spray paint, and silkscreen ink on linen. The Doris and Donald Fisher Collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Billy Schenck s paintings stood out in the New York art scene during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Awestruck by the sweeping imagery in Sergio Leone s Spaghetti Westerns, Schenck found a steady supply of source material in promotional photographs from the Western film genre. Citing Warhol s Elvis Presley as a key inspiration, Schenck adopted Warhol s techniques in his shift to integrate photo-based imagery in his work. MYTHS Billy Schenck fashioned p inspired by Warhol s ource material. sition, Billy Schenck has As Schenck embraced Warhol s techniques and applied them to Western themes and subjects, he became known in Western art circles as the Warhol of the West and carved out a niche within the Western art genre. Schenck projected black and white movie stills onto stretched canvas, then traced ink outlines separating areas of light and shadow before applying color in his paint-by-numbers technique. Flat, reductive, and sharply defined images became the hallmarks of his paintings. 12

13 SCHENCK: SECTION PANEL 3 COWBOY MYTHS Labeled the Warhol of the West, Billy Schenck fashioned a new movement Western Pop inspired by Warhol s techniques and appropriation of source material. With an eye for dramatic composition, Billy Schenck has long examined the American West with a cinematographer s sensibility a mind-set informed by living a Western lifestyle. Schenck investigated the mythic character of the American cowboy through cinematic compositions of high-contrast shadow and light, highly contoured designs, and brilliant colors. Schenck appropriated images that originally graced the covers of Western pulp fiction from the 1920s and 1930s. He chose images of cowboys from an imaginary West perpetuated by railroad promoters, Wild West shows, shoot- em-up Hollywood Westerns, radio and TV shows, country-western crooners, and glamorous rodeo stars. As time went on, he relied more on his own photography and experiences for source material, including ranch life and rodeo sports, and social commentary about the impact of rapid economic growth on rural life from the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming to the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. COWBOY MYTHS Labeled the Warhol of the West, Billy Schenck fashioned a new movement Western Pop inspired by Warhol s techniques and appropriation of source material. FRONT VIEW 1/2 = 1-0 With an eye for dramatic composition, Billy Schenck has long examined the American West with a cinematographer s sensibility a mind-set informed by living a Western lifestyle. Schenck investigated the mythic character of the American cowboy through cinematic compositions of high-contrast shadow and light, highly contoured designs, and brilliant colors. Schenck appropriated images that originally graced the covers of Western pulp fiction from the 1920s and 1930s. He chose images of cowboys from an imaginary West perpetuated by railroad promoters, Wild West shows, shoot- em-up Hollywood Westerns, radio and TV shows, country-western crooners, and glamorous rodeo stars. As time went on, he relied more on his own photography and experiences for source material, including ranch life and rodeo sports, and social commentary about the impact of rapid economic growth on rural life from the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming to the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. 13

14 SCHENCK: SECTION PANEL 4 THE NEW WEST Travel and tourism in all forms defined the New West a place where tradition and innovation converged and it emerged as a pacesetter for the nation during the 1980s. The American Southwest saw huge metropolitan growth during the 1980s. Millions of people moved into the region. Billy Schenck s cinematic landscapes, backlit by big-sky sunsets, came to define a New West for many of them. Schenck s signature reductivist style transformed the realism of photographic detail into a pastiche of Western themes and subjects. His work connected the past with the present especially for transplants to the region from Rust Belt to Sun Belt, from old-fashioned to modern. During that same decade, the American West was redefined by academics who revisited previously held truths about the region; by films like Urban Cowboy, which hit the movie theaters with a bang; and by Ronald Reagan, the Cowboy President, who ran the country from his Western White House. Relocating from Wyoming and Arizona to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the 1990s, Schenck drew inspiration from the Taos Society of Artists and other Western landscape painters. He revered the Taos Society of Artists considered the first American-born artistic movement for their portrayals of New Mexico as the Land of Enchantment. Herbert Dunton ranked among his favorite artists because of his theatrical lighting and resonant colors. Schenck developed his cinematic style in paintings, prints, and photographs, including satiric captions typeset and scrolled across some canvases. His social and political commentary in these artworks was comic, revealing, and self-deprecating. THE NEW WEST Travel and tourism in all forms defined the New West a place where tradition and innovation converged and it emerged as a pacesetter for the nation during the 1980s. FRONT VIEW 1/2 = 1-0 The American Southwest saw huge metropolitan growth during the 1980s. Millions of people moved into the region. Billy Schenck s cinematic landscapes, backlit by big-sky sunsets, came to define a New West for many of them. Schenck s signature reductivist style transformed the realism of photographic detail into a pastiche of Western themes and subjects. His work connected the past with the present especially for transplants to the region from Rust Belt to Sun Belt, from old-fashioned to modern. During that same decade, the American West was redefined by academics who revisited previously held truths about the region; by films like Urban Cowboy, which hit the movie theaters with a bang; and by Ronald Reagan, the Cowboy President, who ran the country from his Western White House. Relocating from Wyoming and Arizona to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the 1990s, Schenck drew inspiration from the Taos Society of Artists and other Western landscape painters. He revered the Taos Society of Artists considered the first American-born artistic movement for their portrayals of New Mexico as the Land of Enchantment. Herbert Dunton ranked among his favorite artists because of his theatrical lighting and resonant colors. Schenck developed his cinematic style in paintings, prints, and photographs, including satiric captions typeset and scrolled across some canvases. His social and political commentary in these artworks was comic, revealing, and self-deprecating. 14

15 SCHENCK: SECTION PANEL 5 THE CINEMATIC WEST The use of cinematic techniques establishing shots, close-ups, and backlighting helped Billy Schenck find a deep focus in his paintings of New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment. Since 2000, Billy Schenck has increasingly turned his attention to the Western landscape, specifically the scenic vistas of the Colorado Plateau and the southern Rocky Mountains. After decades of innovation, tradition emerged with values worth sharing. Schenck s use of wilderness and natural wonders as subjects reflected his belief that open space is worthy of preservation. Schenck also painted Native peoples of the Southwest, especially the Navajo and Pueblos tribes. Many of these paintings romanticized the presumption of a life before strife and suggested a pastoral calm that comes from an apparent close connection to nature. These works remind viewers that Native people lived in the region long before Spanish contact in the 1500s, and he honors a cultural heritage that is both ancient and contemporary. THE CINEMATIC WEST The use of cinematic techniques establishing shots, close-ups, and backlighting helped Billy Schenck find a deep focus in his paintings of New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment. FRONT VIEW 1/2 = 1-0 Since 2000, Billy Schenck has increasingly turned his attention to the Western landscape, specifically the scenic vistas of the Colorado Plateau and the southern Rocky Mountains. After decades of innovation, tradition emerged with values worth sharing. Schenck s use of wilderness and natural wonders as subjects reflected his belief that open space is worthy of preservation. Schenck also painted Native peoples of the Southwest, especially the Navajo and Pueblos tribes. Many of these paintings romanticized the presumption of a life before strife and suggested a pastoral calm that comes from an apparent close connection to nature. These works remind viewers that Native people lived in the region long before Spanish contact in the 1500s, and he honors a cultural heritage that is both ancient and contemporary. 15

16 SCHENCK: OBJECT LABELS Untitled (Carl Malden), 1973 Geoff Stared, x4 Carbon County Vigilantes, 1972 Patrol from Yuma,

17 SCHENCK: OBJECT LABELS Diamonds Are Forever, 1978 The Last Sunset, x 4 Four-Mile Flats, 1984 Ride Off the Mesa,

18 SCHENCK: OBJECT LABELS A Pastoral World in Crisis, 1999 The Cliff and Sadie Story, 1990 Oh Geez, 1999 A Singing Cowboy s Hero Sunset,

19 SCHENCK: OBJECT LABELS No Problema (Rust), 2016 Leap of Faith, 1999 Al Capone, 2006 Blazing Saddlehorns,

20 SCHENCK: OBJECT LABELS This Is Just So Emotionally Crippling, 2006 Earth Angel, x 4 Smokin Aces #1, 2013 Anything Can Happen in the Afternoon, c

21 SCHENCK: OBJECT LABELS Across the Colorado, 1983 Deep Into the Desert, 2009 The Mighty Mesa, 2014 Clay Hills Desconsos,

22 SCHENCK: OBJECT LABELS Miles of Sand and Clouds, 2011 Many, Many Miles, 2012 Debbie Harry, x 4 22