Billy Schenck, Holdup in Holbrook, oil, 55 x 75.
This summer an intriguing show opens at the C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, MT. It brings together works by well-known western artist Billy Schenck and famed Pop artist Andy Warhol. The pairing makes perfect sense, since Schenck is widely acknowledged for bringing Pop art to the West. His witty artworks exalt classic western icons and poke good-natured fun, too. With a visual voice all his own, he tells the tales of the West in simplified imagery and vivid realism.
When we spoke, Schenck had just returned home to Santa Fe after a trip to Monument Valley. He brims with enthusiasm about his career, proud of the fact that his work is held in 58 museums. He has three gallery shows on the horizon this year, including a two-person show in July at Blue Rain Gallery in Santa Fe.
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- Billy Schenck, The Last Sunset, oil, 40 x 40.
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- Billy Schenck, Shades of Ganado, oil, 40 x 40.
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- Billy Schenck, Rough Rider, oil, 50 x 60.
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- Billy Schenck, No Wind, No Rain, oil, 40 x 40.
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- Billy Schenck, Compadre, oil, 24 x 24.
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- Billy Schenck, Never Look Back, oil, 40 x 40.
And Schenck is far from done mining his fertile imagination. He talks excitedly about a series he’s calling “cowboy descanso.” Traditionally, a descanso is a cross installed as a memorial at the site of a violent death, but Schenck puts his own spin on the tradition. In one such work he depicts a cross sporting a cowboy hat, with a holstered gun draped down the side and a pair of cowboy boots in the foreground. Unlike the traditional descanso, Schenck says, in his version no one died, because the cowboy never lived. He’s delighted with his invention, joking, “I am the forefather of fakery and fake news.”
Schenck is represented by JoAnne Artman Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA, and New York, NY; Visions West Contemporary, Denver, CO, and Bozeman, MT; Blue Rain Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; Castle Fine Art, UK; Felder Gallery, San Antonio, TX; InSight Gallery, Fredericksburg, TX; Maxwell Alexander Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ; and Modern West Fine Art, Salt Lake City, UT. —Bonnie Gangelhoff
This story appeared in the May 2021 issue of Southwest Art magazine.