MICHAEL CASSIDY: COWBOY STORIES
June 30 – September 30, 2023
Opening Reception with the artist: June 30, 5 – 7 pm
The Gerald Peters Gallery is pleased to present Cowboy Stories, Michael Cassidy’s second solo exhibition and a continuation of his Western Pulp Series. Cassidy has studied Western cowboy culture most of his life. His paintings vividly portray fictional, often sensational, versions of people, places and historic events of the West. The myth of the Old West can be traced back to the dime novels of the mid 19th century. Although the literary quality of these pulp books were not particularly high, their colorful imagery captured our imagination. This exhibition will feature Cassidy’s large western pulp paintings, smaller western portraits and popular drawings. The myth and the reality of the West are two different things. The reality was a beautiful but wild, harsh, brutal and unforgiving environment for all concerned. The myth is what Hollywood and western pulp fiction chose to promote. In our western stories, real and imagined, we see ourselves as we would like to be seen. — Michael Cassidy
