Who’s Western now? “True West,” at downtown’s Dairy Block, lets viewers decide

January 20, 2020 Posted In

The Know, written by Ray Mark Rinaldi, special to The Denver Post

What does it mean to be a Western artist in 2020? Does it mean painting and sculpting the geography of the mountain region? Or does it simply mean occupying it?

Do artists have to delve into old tropes, like cowboys and Indians, or newer tropes, like winter recreation and road tips, to be authentic regional voices?

Or is the only requirement that they live here in the land of tall peaks and big skies and make whatever they dream up? We’re all Westerners, technically, by virtue of our citizenship in Colorado or Wyoming or Montana — and that’s valid.

Click to read full article.