Ride, Boldly Ride: Paintings by Gordon McConnell

September 5 – December 19, 2015

South One Gallery

Inspired by such films as Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine, and The Westerner, Gordon McConnell (American, b. 1950) explores the western iconography of cowboys, bandits, the Cavalry, and American Indians in his paintings. He says, “Emblematic of vitality, fearlessness, austere self-reliance, and intimacy with nature, my work is darkly nostalgic, haunted by the legacy of popular western imagery and the savage, tragic, and yes, heroic aspects of human nature and history portrayed in it.”

McConnell has exhibited his work in solo, two-person, and group exhibitions throughout the American West. He is represented in the Missoula Art Museum, Whitney Gallery of Western Art, Nicolaysen Art Museum, and Yellowstone Art Museum. He won the Artist of the Year Award from the Yellowstone Art Museum (2006) and a Montana Individual Artist Fellowship (1992). He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts. He lives and works in Billings, MT.

Images: 

(Left) Gordon McConnell (American, b. 1950), In Pursuit, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 14 x 14 inches, lent by the artist

(Right) Gordon McConnell (American, b. 1950), Swashbuckler, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 18 x 22 inches, lent by the artist

Funded in part by UW Art Museum Gala Funds.