Stand Still, You Buzzards—Don't Go For Those Guns!
Artists Reception: Friday, February 13th, 6-9PM
Exhibition Dates: February 13 - March 15, 2009
Gallery Hours: Tues. - Sat. 11-7, Sun. 12-6
Born in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Matt Straub reveals his deep nostalgia for the American West in his latest work. Featured in Straub’s painting are the classic Western iconography images of cowboys, cowgirls, guns and horses. Straub’s paintings echo the period of transition between Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art and reference Hollywood Westerns as well as the comics and pulps of the 1940's-50's. The paintings’ graphic and illustrative narratives combine characters and caricatures inspired by Western pulp writers and illustrators like Zane Grey and Raymond Kinstler, while varied surfaces resonate with influences from artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Larry Poons and Brice Marden.
Ultimately, the work comments on the violent and sentimental mythologies of the American West, an America defined by melancholy sunsets, badlands, gunfights, outlaws and red-blooded heroes. Straub tackles the highs and lows of society with a comic visual vocabulary and a bold, fresh Sixties sensibility. Like a good Country Western song, the show “Stand Still You Buzzards – Don’t Go for those Guns!” profanes the sacred while poking fun at the good, the bad and the ugly.
Matt Straub has lived in Chicago, London, and Berlin. He graduated with a BFA from the University of Illinois in 1979. He currently resides in New York City.
