It has been widely thought that the decline of Westerns in cinemas and on television came about because of the Space Race in the 1960s, which would lead to a boon for science fiction with Star Trek, Star Wars and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Of course, Westerns never went away, but their role in the cultural landscape was diminished as Americans turned their attention to the skies and beyond.
California painter Danny Galieote is uniting the two—Westerns and science fiction—in his newest show, Pop American Realism: Tipping the Scales of the Modern West,opening December 6 at Maxwell Alexander Gallery in Pasadena, California. His newest paintings not only celebrate science fiction, they also embrace the weirdness of the West and the quirky way it can transcend multiple genres at once.
The Legend of Pecos Bill, oil on canvas, 30 x 30 in.
“I’ve always been interested in Americana, and also that Old Hollywood period around the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. I love mixing these subjects and time periods, and that took me to the modern West,” Galieote says. “I think you see this best in one of the new pieces, Unexpected Dinner Guests. It’s campy and fun with flying saucers and this Gene Autry-like figure that calls back to 1940s Westerns and TV shows. When it comes down to it, I want my work to be fun. This painting is not really about cowboys and aliens, but more about American ingenuity and imagination.”
Unexpected Dinner Guests, oil on canvas, 24 x 16 in.
Galieote’s works exist in a nexus of his interests, including Old Hollywood, mid-century design and fashion, regionalism, the “New West,” and even animation, the industry where the artist originated. (Galieote worked for Disney and did major character work on a string of mega-hits: The Lion King, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Tarzan, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Treasure Planet and Princess and the Frog.) All of these interests appear in his newest works at Maxwell Alexander. Animation is represented by the heroic figure in The Legend of Pecos Bill.
Hare Trio, oil on canvas, 30 x 15 in.
“I did a lot of reading on Pecos Bill, who was part of the cultural folklore in the late 1800s. He was invented by a writer and then the legend got handed down like campfire stories. It was said that Pecos Bill could wrestle mountain lions, lasso a tornado and all these other wild feats. For my painting, I show the tornado but I throw in some fun Wizard of Oz details including the witch’s bicycle and some picnic baskets,” Galieote says. “Pecos Bill was designed direct from my old animation experience. I use squash and stretch, which is an animator’s old trick. There are some really unique lines in his design, including one single line that goes from his far foot to his hat.”
Other paintings in the show push the subjects into more stylized renderings. In The Race,the artist elongates the horse and exaggerates the action. “I don’t follow photography, so I never look at a photo to paint,” he says. “I design, in many ways, from my doodles first. Those doodles are often exaggerated. So when I work on the painting, I want to capture the feeling of those doodles.”
Land Dwellers, oil on canvas, 16 x 24 in.
His use of UFOs and flying saucers is not without precedent. Consider Nevada’s Area 51 and Roswell, New Mexico, where some believe an alien spacecraft crashed in 1947. Both are located in deserts in the Southwest. One would have to only squint a little to picture horses and cattle within the same scene. Galieote has brought science fiction—emphasis on “fiction”—into the world of the cowboy.
Other works in the show are more playful and grounded, including Hare Trio, which originated from a similar painting with two subjects. The stack of furry creatures resembles some of Galieote’s most popular works of women shown from behind as they hold deadly weapons behind their backs. “You can also definitely see how this is an extension of my history at Disney,” he says. For his landscape piece Land Dwellers,Galieote was inspired by a trip to Monument Valley with Maxwell Alexander Gallery’s other artists.
The Race, oil on canvas, 13 x 30 in.
One of the outliers of the show, one without UFOs or cute critters, is Giving Thanks, showing a young couple praying before a meal. The painting, with its earnest subjects and timeless themes, calls out to several other artworks, including paintings by Norman Rockwell, who painted prayer in several major pieces, and also Potato Planters, the 1861 painting by French Barbizon painter Jean-François Millet, which hangs in the corner of Galieote’s painting. The artist refers frequently to the past, and how effective older images are at conveying emotion and meaning, even as aspects of the past (setting, clothing, technology) may be outdated by today’s standards.
Giving Thanks, oil on canvas, 20 x 20 in.
“These were the glory days…the golden days,” he says. “The spirit of that is always there for me.” —
Maxwell Alexander Gallery 1300 N. Lake Avenue » Pasadena, CA 91104 » (213) 275-1060 » www.maxwellalexandergallery.com
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