In one of Billy Schenck’s newest pieces, the artist paints a bucking horse and rider leaping improbably down into a deep canyon. The image was designed to be heightened, pun intended, and even surreal, and it has Schenck’s sense of humor embedded into the title—Short Cut.
For the Santa Fe artist, the title and theme could also apply to his own history with horses. After all, when it comes to authenticity in the West, there are no shortcuts, something Schenck learned through experience when he began riding competitively.
All Day long, oil on canvas, 24 x 36 in.
“When I started riding as a team sorter, which requires a lot of precision with a horse, I had to convince everyone I met I could do it. I didn’t dare tell anyone I was an artist because I knew it would wreck my credibility. I had to prove myself; I had to prove I was their equal,” Schenck says, adding that he is extremely competitive, which is reflected in his 2009 world championship win. “I only just retired from rodeoing in November. I had this mentality that if I don’t win then I don’t play. I don’t miss it, even as it was a huge part of my life. I never wanted to come in dead last with the rookies and ham bones.”
Going back to Short Cut, Schenck says it shows how mischievous he can be. “That’s a form of suicide for me, with that guy leaping elegantly hundreds of feet above the canyon floor in that classic saddle-bronc kind of pose,” he says. “I got a kick out of that one.”
Across from Cedar Mesa #2, oil on canvas, 10 x 21 in.
The painting will join 11 others when Schenck opens a new solo show at Blue Rain Gallery starting September 12 in Santa Fe. Other works in the show include landscapes, male and female figures, and All Day Long, which includes an entire Maynard Dixon painting as its background. The Dixon work is Open Range, which sold in July at Coeur d’Alene Art Auction for $2 million. Schenck faithfully recreates the Dixon work, but then overlays it with a close-up image of a horse that fills the painting, leaving only glimpses of the Dixon work between the horse’s legs.
Short Cut, oil on canvas, 20 x 24 in.
“I’ve never done anything like that before,” he says. “I’ve always been told I have a cinematic approach to painting, which is totally true. This idea came from black-and-white film noir made right after World War II to about 1955. In that 10-year span, they made movies where the foreground was in silhouette, with all the action in the middle and far background. I did that here with this cowpuncher and a Dixon painting.”
“Billy Schenck’s latest body of work exemplifies his masterful ability to both honor and subvert the visual language of the American West,” Blue Rain’s Leah Garcia says about the show. “Through a sophisticated fusion of photorealism and Pop Art, Schenck reimagines familiar narratives with nuance, wit and critical insight. This exhibition continues his legacy of provoking thoughtful engagement with the myths and realities of Western iconography.”
The show hangs through September 23. —
Blue Rain Gallery 544 S. Guadalupe Street » Santa Fe, NM 87501 » (505) 954-9902 » www.blueraingallery.com
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