Cowboy Smoking 2014

Mark Maggiori's painting, "Cowboy Smoking" gives us a timeless scene rendered with incredible detail. The palette feels both vivid and dusty. I can imagine the artist layering the oil paint, carefully building up textures to capture the rugged landscape and the figures within it. You know, I wonder what Maggiori was thinking as he painted this cowboy and his horse? Maybe he was considering the historical image of the American West, romanticized and mythologized. The light feels sharp, almost hyperreal, which gives a sense of drama to the scene. I am really drawn to how the pose of the cowboy gives a sense of quiet contemplation amid the vastness of the Western landscape. This painting feels like it is participating in the long tradition of landscape painting and portraiture, as well as the tropes of popular culture. It really speaks to how artists are always drawing on the past while creating something entirely new.