In Greek, the word Nostalgia literally

means "the pain from an old wound".

 

My work does have a

bittersweet nostalgic vibe to it. 

 

That sense of nostalgia comes from my love and admiration for commercial art and illustrators from the early 1900's through the 1950's. In that world commercials artist worked inventively and tirelessly to get your attention. They enhanced, exaggerated, simplified and whatever else they could to produce a compelling, dramatic image. By taking a page from that playbook I work with historic, vintage photos of cowboys and cowgirls and then put them through the same process of the commercial artist to glorify and glamorize the images. I want to Hollywoodize  American cowboys.  It's not a literal representation of the west but rather a state of mind - a memory of a distant dream.

 

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