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Riding the Range showcased the work of over 25 artists
in a diverse range of media, including fine art and installation,
photography, furniture, music and short film.
The focus of the exhibition was to convey the atmosphere and
serenity of Western topography with a collection of finely
executed landscape artworks such as Zenaida Mott's "Frontier
Memories". It sought to encapsulate the delight and
wonder early settlers must have felt upon their arrival
at the new frontier and investigated the potency of the
cowboy image as an American cultural icon. Ethereal landscapes
by Ian Sheldon and Ursula Brenner, sculptural forms by
Arthur Comings and fine art photography by Kerik Kouklis
were just a few of the artists works on display.
"In a sense, landscape art helped to reinforce the
new Western utopian ideal, that here was an uncharted
new world, innocent of history and political meaning for
the early settlers", said director Claire McGovern. The Western
frontier for many symbolized a path of true liberation
from the forces of European culture and its development
had immense influence on both the national psyche and
image of American identity abroad. Landscape art not only
acted as a form of pictorial colonization but also allowed
the early settlers to record a moment of "true freedom".
It conveyed limitless horizons unhampered by territorial
boundaries, assisting in a propagandist transmission of
the new national identity.
Hence Westward expansion brought new meaning to the genre
of landscape art and gave birth to the American Cowboy.
Despite its imperialist connotations and the tragic cost
to the Native American population that prevailed, the
image of the cowboy became a pervasive national symbol.
Riding the Range attempted to interpret this historical time
and convey the cultural phenomena of the days of the Wild
West.
A literary event including readings by esteemed poet August
Kleinzahler and other Bay Area writers and poets was staged during this exhibition.
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