Stephanie Rose’s ethereal oil paintings reimagine the Western landscape as dreamlike scenes existing in a liminal space between realism and abstraction. “I’m more interested in non-visual sensory observation of nature,” she says of paintings that aim to capture more of the feeling of scenes she...
Maia Chávez Larkin simultaneously pays tribute to the past while looking to the future in oil-and-ink paintings of contemporary Western life. She achieves that challenging feat through a self-assured style that combines the restrained elegance of classic early- and mid-20th-century illustrators, the exuberance of greats...
Jesse Littlebird’s joyfully provocative paintings remind some viewers of urban street murals. Still others note the undeniable influence of his Indigenous Southwestern heritage, evident in tribal figures, symbols, and patterns. Those with a taste for subversion might also savor his appropriate approach, championed by 20th-century...
Christy Stallop focuses on depicting Central Texas icons in vivid oil paintings that combine eye-catching realism and good humor. Take, for instance, Feathered Vigilante, from her series featuring the unofficial bird of Austin, where she lives 20 minutes west of downtown. “Grackles are everywhere here,”...
Bob Guelich’s monumental animal bronzes belong to the public, standing ready to be enjoyed and admired at zoos, botanical gardens, art museums, and college campuses nationwide. From a magnificent pride of lions that greets visitors at the San Antonio Zoo, not far from the sculptor’s...
While so many Western artists paint the region’s majestic mountains, canyons, buttes, and plains, Linda Glover Gooch turns her well-trained artist’s eye toward the skies above. The results are cloudscapes as awe-inspiring as the landscapes below. So, it may come as a surprise to learn...
Matthew Grant evokes the essence of Western life in his oil paintings that combine photorealism with a finely trained painterly eye. Born and raised in Texas and now living in Lehi, Utah, he describes his approach and style as “abstract photorealism,” executed in “loosely textured...
Luke Anderson instills Western themes with a bold contemporary sensibility in the mixed-media works he creates in a spirit of experimentation, combining elements of collage, stenciling, and energetic brushwork in acrylics and sometimes oil. “I have always described myself as an experimental artist,” he explains....
Mary Kay West does more than merely “fool the eye” with her trompe-l’oeil still-life paintings. In her recent work White Roses and Bluebird, for example, she certainly creates, as any artist working in that genre should, the powerful illusion that we are gazing into an...
Victoria Veedell paints the world around her to capture its enduring emotional impact. Rather than faithful physical representations, she says, “I create atmospheric landscapes that are memories of places or the emotions I was feeling when I was there.” Consider, for example, Nightfall San Francisco. The...