Oil 24 x 20 In Greek the word nostalgia literally means the pain from an old wound. My work does have that bittersweet nostalgic vibe to it. But, it is my love and admiration for midcentury commercial art that gets my main focus. In that world, the commercial artist works inventively and tirelessly to get your attention; he enhances, exaggerates, simplifies and whatever else he can 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 the real, vintage working cowboys.

Original Work