Inside West Chelsea Contemporary’s Bold New ‘Beyond the West’ Exhibition
Myth, neon and nostalgia collide in this Austin exhibition featuring five boundary-pushing artists
On a recent Saturday downtown, cowpokes of all persuasions gathered around the campfire (aka the artists’ talk) at the West Chelsea Contemporary Gallery. The would-be vaqueros in the crowd circled up to hear five contemporary artists speak about their Western-inspired work in WCC’s new exhibition, “Beyond the West,” on display through April 5.
Gallery Director Allee Beatty introduced the five artists — Geoffrey Gersten, Miles Glynn, Saint No, Terry Urban, and Austin’s own neon icon Todd Sanders. They sat before Gersten’s immense photorealistic painting of a black-and-white cowboy, set against colorful polka dots reminiscent of candy buttons peeled from paper strips.
“The myth of the American West is not only alive and well but constantly growing and evolving, changing shape and texture and medium,” Beatty said.
Nostalgia and Neon
Gersten’s large, hyperrealistic paintings of vintage matchbooks loom in the exhibition. A woman admiring a Philip Morris-branded one that reads “Come to where the flavor is” murmured to her friend that she wanted to grab a match off the wall. Gersten’s painting of a larger-than-life Western Barbie, still in the box and wearing silver cowboy boot earrings, would be just the right size to come alive, take one and strike it.
Sanders’ work is also interested in making something old new again. A giant, glowing red rose is mounted on a pedestal containing found artifacts that no longer make sense in today’s world: Texas Gold Saving Stamps, once used as a loyalty program at HEB, a Big Cherry candy wrapper and the top of a Flavor Buds coffee can. Sanders, a longtime collector, joked that “you’re not a hoarder if you use the stuff.” Though Sanders has worked out of the same South First studio for 29 years, he says, “I’ve never been more excited about my art.”
Urban’s paintings, which he says are “therapy,” are splashed with color, featuring pin-up cowgirls with guns in both hands and phrases like “The End” and “wild as the wind” scribbled across the surface, as though carved into a hitching post. His paintings are born from storylines of trauma, pain and addiction, he says, perhaps even intergenerationally. His Texan grandfather “was an outlaw himself,” Urban says. “I feel like I have a chunk of Texas in my heart.”
The New West
Saint No’s work feels the most modern, like an edgy tattoo artist’s depiction of God’s country. Sexy cowgirls with hoop earrings, bikinis, cigarettes and bad attitudes are outlined in bold red (“the same red that Ferrari uses”) next to classic cars and a fiery sunset dipping behind the hills. The artist grew up around horses and a sweet grandpa who raised him on Marty Robbins and Willie Nelson — his grandma even ran up onstage to kiss Willie one time.
Finally, Glynn’s work combines nostalgia and romance to meld myth to modern. In a painting that bears the appealing, rusted patina of long-standing gas station signs, a woman with her hands cradled under her chin and her boots kicked up in the air is serenaded by a cowboy with a guitar, while a neon moon and orange sign glow over them, declaring “Gone West, may stay awhile.” “I’m an old soul,” Glynn says. “It’s my playground as an old soul to put old shit into something new.”
When it comes to art, the West is never won.
“Beyond the West” is on view through April 5 at West Chelsea Contemporary. The gallery is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. Visitors can also book a private viewing appointment at their website.
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