War Wagon 2018

Curator: This is Vincent Xeus's "War Wagon," an oil painting completed in 2018. Editor: The palette is so subdued, almost entirely monochrome. And yet, that single splash of red emerging from the guns makes such a brutal statement. There's an incredible tension here, heightened by the visible brushstrokes. Curator: Indeed. The genre here straddles both portraiture and history painting, engaging in a visual conversation with historical depictions of the Wild West, filtered through a contemporary lens. It prompts us to consider how popular imagery shapes our understanding, and often glorification, of violence. Editor: I agree. It feels like an examination of masculinity, particularly how idealized and often toxic masculinity is reinforced through these Western archetypes. The figures appear almost ghost-like, a subtle acknowledgement perhaps of how these mythologies haunt our present. Are they heroes or just reflections of a violent past we continue to perpetuate? Curator: Exactly. The brushwork itself contributes to this sense of unease, blurring the line between reality and myth. It reflects the ways in which film, a very powerful medium in shaping the West imaginary, is influencing its narrative. Think about the Western’s public role, its visual language— Editor: --and its social and political impact. We see these same tropes used to justify everything from nationalist fervor to outright oppression, so interrogating that source material is essential. Is Xeus challenging the historical canon, perhaps suggesting an alternate reality where the “heroic” narrative of the Wild West is questioned, revealing a grim, less romanticized past? Curator: It's a pertinent question to raise when discussing historical revisionism in popular culture. I find the figures' gazes particularly striking—they don’t meet our eye; instead they seem to be fixated in different directions. Editor: As if they're locked in their own internal narratives. A haunting depiction, really, and one that encourages us to confront uncomfortable truths. Curator: Certainly gives you pause, thinking about the way violence permeates both our history and our contemporary moment. Editor: Absolutely. Art like this forces us to look critically at the stories we tell ourselves and, more importantly, *why* we tell them.