Matt Straub "Stand Still, You Buzzards -- Don't Go for Those Guns!"
Lyons Wier Gallery
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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 camp and caricatures inspired by Western pulp writers such as 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.
Media
Schedule
from February 13, 2009 to March 15, 2009
Opening Reception on 2009-02-13 from 18:00 to 21:00