The Unexpected Wreck 2017

Mark Maggiori, who was born in 1977, made this painting "The Unexpected Wreck" with oils, I imagine, on canvas. There is a tension between the man, the horses, and the landscape. The tan and brown horse is still, as the white horse bucks and kicks. I can feel the powdery dust that the horses are kicking up from the ground. It fills the painting and gives it the feeling of an old Western movie set. The brushstrokes are soft and feathery, especially in the mountains in the background. I wonder if Maggiori considered Frederic Remington’s Western scenes, full of horses, cowboys, and vast landscapes. It feels like Maggiori is in conversation with Remington and other painters of the Old West.