Billy Schenck

Prelude

One of the originators of the Western pop art movement, Billy Schenck incorporates techniques from photorealism with a pop art sensibility to both exalt and poke fun at images of the West. Schenck is known for utilizing cinematic imagery reproduced in a flattened, reductivist style, where colors are displayed side-by-side rather than blended or shadowed. In the August 2014 issue of SouthwestArt magazine, his work was described as “a stance … a pendulum between the romantic and the irreverent.” Schenck’s artwork is now in 48 museum collections, including Smithsonian Institution, Denver Art Museum, The Autry Museum of Western Heritage, Booth Western Art Museum, Tucson Museum of Art, Phoenix Art Museum, the Mesa Southwest Museum, Museum of the Southwest, Midland TX...

One of the originators of the Western pop art movement, Billy Schenck incorporates techniques from photorealism with a pop art sensibility to both exalt and poke fun at images of the West. Schenck is known for utilizing cinematic imagery reproduced in a flattened, reductivist style, where colors are displayed side-by-side rather than blended or shadowed. In the August 2014 issue of SouthwestArt magazine, his work was described as “a stance … a pendulum between the romantic and the irreverent.” Schenck’s artwork is now in 48 museum collections, including Smithsonian Institution, Denver Art Museum, The Autry Museum of Western Heritage, Booth Western Art Museum, Tucson Museum of Art, Phoenix Art Museum, the Mesa Southwest Museum, Museum of the Southwest, Midland TX...

Tracy Stuckey received his BFA in painting from Florida State University and his MFA from the University of New Mexico. He has exhibited his work extensively throughout the United St...

Tracy Stuckey received his BFA in painting from Florida State University and his MFA from the University of New Mexico. He has exhibited his work extensively throughout the United St...

Tracy Stuckey received his BFA in painting from Florida State University and his MFA from the University of New Mexico. He has exhibited his work extensively throughout the United States, with numerous solo and group exhibitions, including shows curated by gallery owner Linda Durham and artist Joel Peter Witkin. He has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards, most recently the Professional Development Grant from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History. In 2009 he was an artist-in-residence at the Center for Land Use Interpretation in Wendover, Utah. Also a professor, Stuckey has taught at West Virginia University, and most recently, Colorado State University. Tracy and his wife, artist Erika Osborne, live in Fort Collins, Colorado. "My paintings operate in a fictitious world that utilizes the mythologies and realities of the modern American West. Because of its unique history, the Western United States is more than just a location; it is a label, a persona and most importantly a cultural identity. The word "Western" is a category; it is used to describe films, literature, music, art, and fashion. In my work I use the cowboy and cowgirl and other stereotypical Western themes coupled with pop cultural depictions of the region to reflect my own interpretations of the contemporary West. I am interested in historian Michael Johnson...

Tracy Stuckey received his BFA in painting from Florida State University and his MFA from the University of New Mexico. He has exhibited his work extensively throughout the United States, with numerous solo and group exhibitions, including shows curated by gallery owner Linda Durham and artist Joel Peter Witkin. He has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards, most recently the Professional Development Grant from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History. In 2009 he was an artist-in-residence at the Center for Land Use Interpretation in Wendover, Utah. Also a professor, Stuckey has taught at West Virginia University, and most recently, Colorado State University. Tracy and his wife, artist Erika Osborne, live in Fort Collins, Colorado. "My paintings operate in a fictitious world that utilizes the mythologies and realities of the modern American West. Because of its unique history, the Western United States is more than just a location; it is a label, a persona and most importantly a cultural identity. The word "Western" is a category; it is used to describe films, literature, music, art, and fashion. In my work I use the cowboy and cowgirl and other stereotypical Western themes coupled with pop cultural depictions of the region to reflect my own interpretations of the contemporary West. I am interested in historian Michael Johnson...

"Smoker #21" is a shaped canvas painting by Pop artist Tom Wesselmann. The painting is signed and dated on the overturn edge, "Wesselmann 75". Tom Wesselmann was born in Cincinnati Ohio on February 23 1931. He attended college from 1945-1951, first at the Hiram College in Ohio and then the University of Cincinnati, where he majored in psychology. He was drafted during the Korean War in 1952, and it was during this time that Wesselmann did his first cartoons. After he was discharged and had finished in degree in psychology, Wesselmann began to study drawing at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. He sold his first cartoon strips to two magazines, 1000 Jokes and True. In 1956, he was accepted to Cooper Union in New York and he continued his studies there. It was while he was studying in New York, specifically on a trip to the MoMA that Wesselmann became inspired by Robert Motherwell and Willem de Kooning. In 1958, a landscape painting trip to Cooper Union’s Green Camp in New Jersey brought him to the realization that he could make his career in painting, rather than cartooning. After graduation, Wesselmann became one of the founding members of the Judson Gallery, along with Marc Ratliff and Jim Dine. Wesselmann also began to teach art at a public school in Brooklyn and later at the High School of Art and Design. In 1961, Wesselmann began the series that would bring him to the attention of the art world, Great American Nude. After a dream concerning the phrase “red, white and blue”, Wesselmann decided to limit himself to a palette of only those colors (including colors like gold and khaki that are associated with patriotic motifs). This series incorporated representational images along the same patriotic theme, including American landscape photographs and portraits of the founding fathers. Wesselmann often collaged these images from magazines and discarded posters which required him to work in a much larger format than he was used to. As his works became larger and larger he approached advertisers directly to acquire billboards. Wesselmann’s first solo show was held in 1961 at Tanager Gallery. In 1962, Richard Bellamy gave him a one man exhibition at the Green Gallery. In 1962, Wesselmann participated in the group exhibition “New Realists” at the Sidney Janis Gallery and kicked off his international career. In that same year his first pieces with the title of Still Life, came about. In these works, Wesselmann concentrated on the juxtaposition of different elements, i.e. a cigarette ad...

Ceravolo's Large scale paintings have received international acclaim for more four decades. His art rose to acclaim when he was commissioned to create five large scale paintings for...

Artist: Mark Kostabi, American (1960 - ) Title: Simply Irresistible Year: 1989 Medium: Oil on Canvas, signed verso Size: 68 x 72 in. (172.72 x 182.88 cm)

Artist: Mark Kostabi, American (1960 - ) Title: The Pause that Refreshes Year: 1989 Medium: Oil on Canvas, signed verso Size: 72 x 60 in. (182.88 x 152.4 cm)

'Campbell's Soup Favorites - Tomato' by Leslie Lew is a sculpted oil on canvas painting with saturated colors of yellow, blue, red, purple, orange, white and black. Leslie Lew reinte...

'Sugar Smacks and The Smackin' Brothers' by Leslie Lew is a sculpted oil on canvas painting with saturated colors of yellow, blue, red, purple, orange, white and black. Born in Ne...