Show Preview | Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale

Denver, CO
National Western Complex, January 7

Stephanie Revennaugh, Mutual, bronze, 30 x 53 x 12.

This story was featured in the December 2019/January 2020 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art December 2019/January 2020 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

EVERY YEAR SINCE 1993, the Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale has kicked off the collecting year for serious fans of western art. What distinguishes it from other shows across the nation, says curator Rose Fredrick, is the fact that “we are a contemporary realist show set in the West,” featuring “artists who are thinking about contemporary issues, and sometimes using contemporary materials, rather than painting historical or romanticized works.”

This year’s edition debuts with the Red Carpet Reception on the evening of Tuesday, January 7, during which the artists’ main works are sold by fixed-price drawing and their smaller works are sold in a silent auction. The show is then open to the public during the National Western Stock Show, January 11-26. Some 400 pieces are on display from 59 established artists, plus another 15 emerging artists invited as part of The Club, shown in a smaller space a floor below the main exhibit. (Works by artists in The Club are also exclusively available for preview and advance purchase at a cocktail reception on Thursday, December 12, for the Young Guns, a group of 20- and 30-somethings interested in art, education, and philanthropy.)

: Sophy Brown, Maelstrom, acrylic, 92 x 55.

: William Matthews, Exodus, watercolor, 15 x 22.

: Peregrine O’Gormley, Point Begets Line, bronze, 10 x 24 x 8.

The show brings together some of the finest creative spirits exploring western subjects today, working not only in the West but also across the nation and around the world. Stylistic approaches, media, and subject matter vary widely. Montana-based Michael Blessing, for example, offers a fresh take on western movie icons in a piece called BURNIN’ DAYLIGHT, in which an archival print of John Wayne is accented by bright neon lights. Oils by Teresa Elliott of Texas present livestock portraits whose subjects look as distinguished as corporate chairmen. German painter Ulrich Gleiter’s expressionist landscapes employ an almost sculptural impasto technique.

: Aaron Morgan Brown, The Great Bear, oil, 58 x 40.

: Dianne Massey Dunbar, Empties, oil, 11 x 14.

: Teresa Elliott, Balmorhea, oil, 48 x 36.

Denver’s own William Matthews portrays present-day cowboy life in luminous watercolors such as EXODUS, in which a cowboy on horseback rides along a snowy country road past a pile of used tires and a line of telephone poles. Amy Laugesen of Englewood, CO, fashions small ceramic horses that are as sleekly contoured as ancient artifacts. And Monte Yellow Bird Sr., also known as Black Pinto Horse, adds a modern sensibility to traditional Indian ledger art.

: Louis Escobedo, High Plains Drifter, oil, 24 x 24.

: David Grossmann, Autumn Morning With Changing Trees, oil, 30 x 50.

: Stephanie Hartshorn, Ombre Steel, oil, 40 x 30.

Some of the most vivid contributions this year come from Sophy Brown of Colorado, who was chosen as this year’s Featured Artist. Born in England and an accomplished horsewoman, Brown endows her large-format equine paintings with deeply personal raw emotion; she employs a range of techniques that include spraying and flinging paint, adding torn layers, and sometimes bringing a work to the brink of destruction. A case in point is MAELSTROM, this year’s signature artwork, which becomes part of the National Western’s permanent collection and is also available for sale as a poster during the show. “Sophy combines her skill and understanding of art and her knowledge of the West and takes the results to a whole new level,” observes Fredrick. And in fact, that statement is an apt description of the quality of every artist included in the Coors show. —Norman Kolpas

contact information
303.291.2567
www.coorswesternart.com