Texas Two-Step
My recent paintings, which I refer to as cowgirl portraits, feature paint swatch samples shaped, painted, and collaged into distorted, mixed-media portraits. The inspiration and blueprint for the facial features come from 1960s wig ads standard in romantic comic books of the time. Stylistically, this new series sits between precision and playfulness, both figurative and abstract. These are strong women, no longer restrained by the beauty standards of the time. The cowgirl series is part of a larger project exploring and deconstructing fantasy tropes from American western culture. Antithetical to the suburban Texas confines of my youth and the precision and desolate domestic themes of my earlier work, this world and work are expansive, unkept, and feral.
Texas Two-Step #13 (Glynda), 2023
Soft pastel and graphite on paper
51 x 42 inches
Texas Two-Step #12 (Glynda), 2023
Charcoal, wax pastel, graphite on paper
56 x 42 inches
Texas Two-Step #11 (Glynda), 2022
Acrylic, paint swatches, pencil, crayon on wood panel
48 x 36 inches
Texas Two-Step #10 (Sylvia), 2022-2023
collaged paint swatches, water-based ink, acrylic paint, on wood panel
16 x 20 inches
Texas Two-Step #9 (Frances), 2022-2023
Collaged paint swatches, acrylic paint, on wood panel
16 x 20 inches
Texas Two-Step #8 (Fannie), 2022-2023,
collaged paint swatches, water-based crayon, acrylic paint, on wood panel
16 x 20 inches
Texas Two-Step #7 (Minerva), 2022-2023
Collaged paint swatches, water-based ink, acrylic paint, on wood panel
16 x 20 inches
Texas Two-Step #6 (Zara), 2022
Collaged paint swatches, acrylic paint, graphite pencil, colored pencil, on wood panel
20 x 16 inches
Texas Two-Step #5 (Janice), 2022
Collaged paint swatches, acrylic paint, graphite pencil, colored pencil, on wood panel
20 x 16 inches
Texas Two-Step #4 (Eva), 2022
Collaged paint swatches, acrylic paint, graphite pencil, colored pencil, on wood panel
20 x 16 inches
Texas Two-Step #3 (Staci), 2022
Collaged paint swatches, acrylic paint, graphite pencil, on wood panel
20 x 16 inches
Texas Two-Step #2 (Vera), 2022
Collaged paint swatches, acrylic paint, on wood panel
20 x 16 inches
Texas Two-Step #1 (Gayle), 2021
Collaged paint swatches, acrylic paint, on wood panel
20 x 16 inches
Jeff Gauntt-Quiceno 