the wild bunch - a conversation with billy schenck...schenck: if you look at every caption painting...
TRANSCRIPT
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“THE WILD BUNCH” - A Conversation with Billy Schenck
JA: As a cowboy yourself, how does your perspective of the Wild West differ from some of its portrayals in cinema and popular culture? SCHENCK: Not at all (unless they did it wrong) JA: You are inspired by Sergio Leone and are drawn to the mystique and timelessness of Spaghetti Westerns. What do you believe continues to draw so many others to the Western genre? SCHENCK: It seems to capture the imagination like no other genre has in history. Even that period in American history seems to have no equal. It has and does capture a universal appeal. JA: How, if at all, do you combat Western stereotypes in your paintings? SCHENCK: If you look at every caption painting I have done since the mid 1980s. Every single one takes on some aspect of every western cliché there is, and undermines it and turns it on its head. JA: What does the Wild West represent for you? What inspires you to recreate it within your art? SCHENCK: For me the western myth is a metaphor for many aspects of life in general. It has the ability to keep expanding like a parallel to the expanding universe. I’m inspired by the fact that there are endless possiblilities and trying to find resolutions that are better that the ones, I did a year ago, or 5 years ago or 20 years ago.