A fury of hooves blazing through warped landscapes. Larger-than-life cowboys crankin’ on the reins. All wild-eyed as the action unfolds. Part superhero, part self-portrait, Dan Stovall paints hard-riding archetypes with a side of personal style. While not as animated as Ernie Barnes or Jim Vogel, Stovall’s works share a kinetic sensibility—dynamic, almost musical scenes full of rhythm and buzz.
“That’s what I look for in an artist is someone that can take the classic subject of the West and put a stylized voice onto it,” says Beau Alexander of Maxwell Alexander Gallery, “but not feel kitschy and also have the technical artistic abilities to back it up…He’s definitely taking influence from the early 1900s illustrators, specifically W.R. Leigh, but he’s also kind of making it his own, which is important, and I think we’re going to see that more and more as he continues to grow.”
The Breakout, oil on linen, 22 x 40 in. Currently available at Parsons Gallery of the West.“What I’m trying to do with my work these days, it’s almost the opposite of a landscape painting with a figure in it,” says Stovall. “It’s basically a big figure painting with a landscape in the back, and I’m a little bit hipster trying to just see what the trends are and doing the opposite.”
For Stovall, an Arkansas-based artist with a fresh face and a voice that carries more weight than his years, developing his signature look took some trial and error. When he started painting seriously in 2019, his primary objective was to recreate his reference photos, the artist says. While a noble exercise, he wasn’t carving out space for himself in the way he had hoped. Stovall wanted to hang work in a crowded group show and instantly recognize his.
“So, it actually was kind of a struggle more than it looks,” says Stovall, who grew up around Norman Rockwell and sporting art prints—art for “non-art people,” he adds. “Our house kind of looked like Bass Pro Shops. It’s just way tacky and out of style now. But, you know, back in the ’90s, it was a big thing.” Stovall had worked at horse facilities and spent time at his grandpa’s Texarkana ranch, so he was interested in cowboy subject matter but didn’t have a lot of exposure to stylized Western art.
The Turnback, oil on linen, 20 x 16 in. Private collection. Courtesy Parsons Gallery of the West.With a little guidance from Phil Epp, who connected with him on social media, Stovall was able to take his practice in a clearer direction. “We went through basically all the things I had done up to that point that were online,” says Stovall. They sorted them into two groups and discussed what was working and what could use improvement. At the end of the critique, “the ones he really liked were the ones I also really liked,” says Stovall, “paintings that weren’t trying to look exactly like the photo…So it took me a few years of really letting myself have an idea and using photographs to support that idea instead of having a photograph to just go off. I’m very design-first now. I’m thinking about big shapes—the shapes that people are making, the figures and all the movement and everything…it comes from old baroque art.”
In works like The Puncher, a chase scene that will head to Denver for the Coors Western Art Exhibit in January, design outweighs reality (even if it irks purists like his farrier friend). “It’s a little bit off balance, like it’s just wanting to fall forward,” he says of the horse’s deliberately awkward gait. Horses aren’t just silent props for Stovall, they’re major characters in his paintings, full of emotion and anthropomorphism you might find in a Disney film.
Runnin’ ‘em Down, oil, 16 x 20 in. Private collection. Courtesy Maxwell Alexander Gallery.
Dan Stovall in his Arkansas studio. Courtesy the artist.
“I first saw Dan’s work when I was down in Taos at Parsons Gallery,” says Coors Western Art curator Kate Hlavin, who ended up purchasing a piece for her own collection. “I was really just drawn to the illustrative style,” she says. “I’ve always personally liked classic Western illustration—N.C. Wyeth, Arthur Mitchell, so many of the great Western illustrators—and his work just really spoke to me.”
An action-packed painting of a cowboy roping a steer caught her eye. “There was something about it that I just felt was different than some of the other Western art and Western artists that I have seen and worked with,” she says. “And I just really liked the energy of his work—the facial expressions of the figures he uses. I think there’s some type of humor to them. Some of them are really stoic. Some of them have more expressive facial features. And just the movement of the animals, the steers in particular, I just thought were so quintessential.”
The Puncher, oil on linen, 30 x 40 in. Available at Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale.
After coming across Stovall’s work online, Parsons Gallery of the West director Ash Rolshoven Loveless “snatched that boy right up,” she says. “He’s just a natural. I mean, I could see that from the beginning. He fine-tuned some things, absolutely, but you know that kid was born with that talent.” Stovall has been working with the gallery since 2021 and recently sold out his offerings at the Taos gallery’s Big Summer Show.
For the past three years, Stovall has also been featured in the live auction at the Taos Art Museum gala. “It’s a little bit of an adrenaline rush every time one of his paintings goes up for auction over there,” says Loveless. “It’s always fun and you can just see a little smile on his face. He’s just so modest and kind that he doesn’t let it show that much.” His work sold over estimates in both 2023 and 2024, she adds.
Pulling the Slack, oil on linen, 40 x 30 in. Private collection. Courtesy Parsons Gallery of the West.
Arroyo Hondo, 2024, oil on linen, 30 x 24 in. Private collection.
For this year’s gala, Stovall reckons with the high desert atmosphere in his painting New Mexico Light. “I don’t know if everybody sees this or if I’m just weird, but coming from Arkansas and then going there, when it’s midday in Taos, it’s like the light is white in a way. It’s almost fluorescent. I don’t know if it’s the altitude or what it is, but I was trying to capture that in that painting,” he explains. “Something about it, I think maybe it just didn’t have as much foliage to reflect off of, I don’t know. I haven’t quite figured it out yet. The only artist I’ve seen that really, really nails it is Walter Ufer.”
The next few months will be busy for Stovall, with a holiday group show at Parsons and the Black Friday Saleat Maxwell Alexander (where his work will, presumably, pass his own litmus test). “We’re excited to add Dan to that show,” says Alexander, who first included him in their summer group show. “I suspect his are going to be gone within those first couple of minutes.” The gallery owner notes that the number of inquiries for Stovall’s works have gone up since his debut at the gallery earlier this year. Stovall is also gearing up for a three-man show at Maxwell Alexander in early 2026 alongside George G. Redden and Nathanael Volckening.
The Frontrunner, 2023, oil on linen, 30 x 24 in. Private collection.
“People always ask me who are up-and-coming artists who I should be collecting right now, and there’s so many wonderful artists painting and sculpting throughout the West and the Southwest,” says Hlavin. “But Dan’s work just really resonates with me and I keep going back to his work. And that’s how you know he’s one to watch.” The Coors show should be special this year, she adds, with its long-awaited Legacy Building opening and new faces like Stovall in the mix.
The artist is grateful for the opportunity. “It’s just kind of taking off now,” says Stovall.
Heelshot, oil on linen, 12 x 16 in. Private collection. Courtesy Maxwell Alexander Gallery.
Loveless at Parsons would agree. “Sky’s the limit for that kid,” she says. “He’s just natural talent, kind, good attitude, humble attitude—that goes a long way in this world.” —
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Maxwell Alexander Gallery: www.maxwellalexandergallery.com
Parsons Gallery of the West: www.parsonsart.com/parsonswest
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