More than 60 of the top Western artists in the country will have new work available at the Masters of the American West exhibition starting on February 27 at the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles. The show is one of the most important museum exhibitions of the year, and this year’s show is expected to once again speak to the quality of artists, the diversity of talent and the exceptional level of storytelling that permeates within Western art.
Kim Wiggins, Frank Chisum – Wild West Icon, oil, 60 x 40”
This will be the first Masters, and hopefully the last, held during the ongoing pandemic—last year’s show missed the first Covid wave by a matter of weeks—so the show organizers have had to make some changes to protect museum visitors, patrons, staff, collectors and artists. Much of the exhibition will take place virtually through the Autry’s website. The art will still be displayed within the Autry’s Masters gallery, but due to ongoing shutdowns in California, in-person viewing may not be available. But virtual viewing, bidding and purchasing will still take place, including on March 13, when the by-draw sale is held. 
Brett Allen Johnson, Last Light on the Red Desert, oil, 36 x 36”
“We feel very strongly about this show, even amid this very strange year we’ve experienced. Shows like this feed off dynamic audience participation, so we’re sad it has to be this way, but it really is going to be a strong body of work from a really strong group of artists,” says Amy Scott, the Marilyn B. and Calvin B. Gross Curator of Visual Arts at the museum. “We are planning on having a series of events that will give our audience direct access to these artists. In addition, we still will have the physical installation, which will allow us to bring VIPs and other guests through to see the work. We certainly recognize that people want to see the works in person, and see the textures of the canvases, and see 360 degrees around the bronzes. Works just come across very different in person.”
Kyle Polzin, Parfleche – Abstract Paintings from the Plains, oil on canvas, 54 x 27”
Artists participating at this year’s exhibition include Tony Abeyta, William Acheff, Bill Anton, Thomas Blackshear II, Eric Bowman, George Carlson, G. Russell Case, Tim Cherry, Len Chmiel, Logan Maxwell Hagege, Oreland Joe, Mark Maggiori, Ed Mell, Dean Mitchell, James Morgan, Bill Nebeker, Kyle Polzin, Howard Post, Kevin Red Star, Grant Redden, Roseta Santiago, Billy Schenck, Sandy Scott, Tim Shinabarger, Matt Smith, Tim Solliday, Jim Wilcox and many others. The show will also feature several family pairings: sisters Autumn Borts-Medlock and Tammy Garcia, Michael Coleman and his son Nicholas Coleman, husband-and-wife painters John Moyers and Terri Kelly Moyers, JoAnn Peralta and her daughter Brittany Weistling, and Daniel Smith and his son Adam Smith.
Logan Maxwell Hagege, Falling to Pieces, oil, 12 x 16”
Mark Maggiori, Hold On to What is Good, oil on linen, 50 x 50”
One artist who will be debuting new work is New Mexico modernist Kim Wiggins, who will be bringing a recent entry for his Goodnight/Loving Trail series. The work is Frank Chisum – Wild West Icon, a 60-by-40-inch oil showing one of the great American cowboys. Chisum was born a slave and was given the name Benjamin Franklin Daley. He was later bought by the cattle baron John Chisum in Fort Worth, Texas, for $400 and set free. He took the name Frank Chisum and worked as a cowboy throughout Texas.
“Over the last eight years I’ve continued working on a series of major paintings documenting the history of the Old West. These paintings speak of real people and real events…they are not nameless tokens of the West. This year’s work focuses on one of the lesser-known heroes of the 1860s and ’70s, Frank Chisum,” Wiggins says. “The birth of the truly great American cattle drives began in August of 1866. One of the top wranglers listed on this massive drive of some 3,000 head of longhorn steers was Frank Chisum. He remained a lifelong friend of cattle king John Chisum, sticking with him through the infamous Lincoln County War of the late 1870s and later saving his life.”
Another returning artist to this year’s exhibition is John Fawcett, who will be showing works in both oil and watercolor, including the watercolor Good As the Boys. “On many of the large, historic ranches of the West, children grow up doing chores and performing duties regardless of gender,” Fawcett says of the work. “They are all working for the brand. Many kids learn to ride about the same time they begin to walk and grow to be expert horsemen. This daughter from a family-owned ranch takes her turn helping in the branding pens proving she is as ‘good as the boys.’”
John Fawcett, Good as the Boys, watercolor, 19 x 28”
Grant Redden, Summer Moonlight, oil, 20 x 20”
Wildlife painter Dustin Van Wechel will be showing Rocky Mountain Royalty, featuring an elk on a mountain slope in front of purple cliffs. “Rocky Mountain elk are a crowning symbol of the American West,” the Colorado painter says. “For me, nothing instills a sense of connection to the West as when I’m observing these incredible creatures in their prime during the early fall season. Listening to the haunting bugle of a bull elk echoing through the crisp, still air of the Rocky Mountains is an experience I simply never tire of.”
Utah painter Brett Allen Johnson will be making his debut at the Masters in 2021, and is thrilled at the opportunity to show his work at the museum—“It’s been a dream of mine for a long time,” he adds. One of the works he will be showing is Last Night on the Red Desert, which is painted in an almost neon palette that captures the intense sunset light as it punctuates the red rock of desert landmarks. 
Howard Post, Shaded Water, oil, 40 x 30”
Joshua LaRock, Sundown, oil, 29 x 34”
“Canyon walls rise high above, distinctly stratified in masses of striped Platonic forms dotted by junipers and rubble, while the lone cowboy casually trails his herd through the brush below. Last Light on the Red Desert was a chance to consider the boundaries between representation and abstraction; to break things down and distill them while maintaining their essence. It’s about the play of pinks and purples with red and green and blue, and the contrast of volume and scale with broad fields of color,” he says of the work. “Most importantly, though, it’s about the otherworldly magic that happens each night in the fading light of Arizona’s canyon country.”
Ed Mell, Cascading Canyon Storm, oil, 40 x 48”
Autumn Borts-Medlock, Deer Pot and Antler, traditional Santa Clara clay pot, 12 x 7¾”. Photo courtesy King Galleries.
Another newcomer to this year’s show is contemporary figure and portrait painter Joshua LaRock, who has, in recent years and with great success, turned his attention to Western art. His work Sundown shows a cowboy and his horse on the edge of the Grand Canyon as they take in the last light of the day. “My travels through Arizona always leave me marveling at the incredible variety of the land,” LaRock says. “It seems like one could drive an hour in any direction to find the rock formations and climate have completely changed. But perhaps no place is better for taking in the low light of the setting sun grazing sheer cliffs than the vistas of the Grand Canyon. I was inspired to imagine a man and his horse packing up at the end of a long day traversing the many trails of the canyon and its awesome beauty. They are tired but content—and the warm glow saturates everything.”
Tammy Garcia, Harvest Time, bronze, ed. of 35, 11¾ x 11”. Photo courtesy King Galleries.
For updates about the Masters of the American West, please visit www.theautry.org/masters. —
Masters of the American West
February 27-April 4, 2021
By-draw sale, March 13
Autry Museum of the American West, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 667-2000, www.theautry.org
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