Two Dallas art exhibitions 鈥� 鈥淗eard鈥� and 鈥淭he Range鈥� 鈥� are challenging traditional notions of the cowboy.
One came together in barely six months, the other was five years in the making. They both opened last month and run until July 29. You can see 鈥淗eard鈥� at the in West Dallas and 鈥淭he Range鈥� at in the Design District.
For Tramaine Townsend , this project was born from a script. Five years ago, the Houston-born, Dallas-based visual artist was writing a movie about a Black cowboy. Townsend said the research for that project fostered an interest in the Black cowboy lifestyle and identity.
鈥淚 knew that there was a deeper side of that culture that people really need to resonate with and feel,鈥� Townsend said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a beauty to it that people just haven鈥檛 really paid much attention to. 鈥� I鈥檝e been here my whole life and I know these stories need to be told.鈥�
The start of Townsend鈥檚 project five years ago coincides with what 鈥淭he Range鈥� co-curator Ari Myers sees as a popular resurgence of the cowboy.
鈥淭here has been a renewed interest in the cowboy figure since around 2018 with shows like 'Yellowstone' coming on TV and with Lil Nas X and [the song] 鈥極ld Town Road.鈥� These pop culture things have brought the cowboy figure more into the contemporary imagination,鈥� she said.
Myers, who is based in Taos, N.M., curated 鈥淭he Range鈥� exhibition along with , who own Gallery 12.26. Hannah said the idea for a cowboy-related exhibition is something her sister has wanted to do for a long time. It鈥檚 a project inspired by the sisters鈥� Dallas origins.
鈥淲e鈥檙e very proud that we have a few Dallas-based artists on our roster,鈥� Fagadau said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 exciting for us to be able to put these Dallas artists in the context of the contemporary global art world. They have this opportunity to be in conversation and be shown amongst artists from outside Texas.鈥�
鈥淭he Range鈥� is no exception. The exhibition includes 11 artists of different backgrounds and identities, including Dallas-based ceramic artist . Myers talked about an emphasis on diversity with the artists and their work in putting together the exhibition.
鈥淥ur show has women artists, queer artists, Asian American artists, Black artists, it鈥檚 really a wide range of folks who are interested in seeing how they might fit into or how they relate to the myth of the cowboy,鈥� Myers said.
Townsend says Dallas shaped the artist that he has become. Fittingly, most of the photographs that are now part of 鈥淗eard鈥� were taken in Dallas or Fort Worth across the last five years.
Myers expressed a desire to challenge the idea of the cowboy that was built by Hollywood in the last century. She says recent figures like John Wayne and the Marlboro Man have taken a historically diverse origin and made it almost exclusively white.
Nickolas Gaines, the curator of 鈥淗eard,鈥� expressed a similar desire to reaffirm that diverse history with Townsend鈥檚 exhibition.
Many people don鈥檛 know about the prevalence of Black cowboys in Texas in the 1850s, he said. 鈥淓ven the term cowboy. It goes back to enslaved Black men being told 鈥楪o check on that cow, boy鈥�... the history of Black people in Texas, as cowboys, that鈥檚 the heart of this exhibition.鈥�
Details
鈥淭he Range鈥� runs through July 29 at Gallery 12.26, 150 Manufacturing St., Suite 205, Dallas,
鈥淗eard: Photographs and Films by Tramaine Townsend, 2018鈥�2023鈥� runs through July 29 at Daisha Board Gallery 鈥� West, 2111 Sylvan Ave., Dallas,
Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and 四虎影院.
This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and 四虎影院 retain full editorial control of Arts Access鈥� journalism.
