Capital City Arts Initiative

To launch its ninth season, the Capital City Arts Initiative [CCAI] is honored to present Mick Sheldon’s exhibition, Still Lifes for Cowpokes, in the CCAI Courthouse Gallery, September 16, 2011 – January 20, 2102. In conjunction with the project, Phoebe Finch, writer and UNR student, has written the following essay about the exhibition and the artist’s processes. CCAI extends its appreciations to Mick, Phoebe, the Carson City Courthouse, and all those involved in the exhibition.

A Hybrid of the Brash and the Curious

Mick Sheldon’s origins are no mystery in his series of paintings, Still Lifes for Cowpokes. Having a certain familiarity with the landscapes and objects of the West translates effortlessly into the traditionally classic genre of still lifes. The conscious irony of the title of the series is simultaneously humorous and intriguing. These paintings are for the West. Sheldon himself sees the familiarity in these works: “The skulls were my cowboys.  The cactus became sugar pines.  This made it all clear and it was funny and attractive and accessible and then it got kind of exciting.”

Sheldon’s self-described ‘lost youth’ of “dead-end jobs everywhere” lends itself to the persona of the cowboy. Nomadic and insatiable, Sheldon is a hybrid of the brash and curious character of the cowboy—yet also the thoughtful and dedicated artist. He allows himself to be consumed by his passion, utilizing his extensive education and impressive experience as an artist to fully engage with his work on a daily basis. He has worked in various mediums over the course of his career, from hand-colored woodblocks, assemblage pieces, sculptures, and rich oil paintings; all of which display his artistic talent.

The skulls in Still Lifes for Cowpokes echo the skulls and timepieces found in still lifes popular in the mid-seventeenth century: still lifes designed to emphasize not only the artist’s ability to master the different textures of the chosen objects, but also to convey the transience of time and remind us of our own mortality. Sheldon’s inclusion of skulls perhaps suggests this fleeting quality of life and the harsh reality of the American West, but also the steadfast and timeless characteristics of the region itself.

The works in this series come after a period of creating mainly figurative works in the nineties for Sheldon and their beautiful renderings both harkens back to the classics of art history and embrace the contemporary artscape of today. Simultaneously employing the ironic combination of what is sometimes perceived as the ‘pretentious’ still life and the subject of ordinary objects, Sheldon intentionally aims these works at the inhabitants of the West: the cowpokes. Playing with the juxtaposition of the personage of the rogue cowboy and the unmistakably traditional still life creates a fourth dimension in these paintings—a fusion of past and present represented through time.

Though his body of work includes strong themes of politics, social justice, parody, and allusion, at heart there is a sense that Sheldon has always possessed some of the untamed qualities of a cowboy. When he did not have a press of his own, he drove over the woodblocks and paper with his truck to produce his prints, then colored them all by hand. The rogue cowboy and the serious artist combine within Sheldon, generating a magnetic quality that draws the viewer in for a closer look at his work.

In these still lifes, however, there is a sense of returning home, a sense of getting back to some personal beginning, focusing on content, arrangement, texture, and color. There is an intense focus on the objects that fill the canvas, pulling the viewer into the painting and carrying a new narrative for each composition.

Sheldon’s selected objects feel at home: their arrangements and colors create a sense of comfort and familiarity with the West. Sheldon’s palette reflects the earthen hues of the environment in which he roamed in his youth—his “cowboy days,”—utilizing greens, browns, yellows, and dusty reds.

The refreshing differences between the textures shown in these works—the pieces of glass, the cacti and the luxurious fabrics—combine to give the viewer a feast of imagery and color which truly becomes a sensory experience. The shadows of the glass in Admiring the New Cowboy Hat recall a sunset casting shadows on the land, while the fabric in One Pulls Two Through the Flooded Canyon is sensuous, tactile, and, as Sheldon describes it, has a “liquidic feeling of sexuality in the folds.” The textures in One Pulls Two are intoxicating. Sheldon’s “contrasts of tactile sensations” are tangible to the viewer in his simple yet compelling arrangements.

The objects themselves create the personality in each scene. Their textures and movements within the compositions create a fluidity that energizes and enlivens each painting. The visible light sources add an element of reality, while the individual personalities in the skulls and cacti lend the paintings narratives that spark the viewer’s interest—as in Standoff at Lone Pine. Two sides, one of bottles and the other of gourds, separated by a lonely cactus, face each other poised for action, creating palpable tension within the composition. And yet the lamp and fabric remind the viewer that it remains a work of still lifes, no matter how much we want a gourd to make a move.

Similarly, Admiring the New Cowboy Hat on Top of Three Lookouts Mountain refers to the geography of the West, the landscapes, and the scale. Reminiscent of Camel Rock near Santa Fe, New Mexico, the emotional embodiment of the objects physically creating and representing landforms evokes the experience of being outside. Sheldon’s exquisite renderings of his subjects allow the viewer to truly sense the vast landscapes of the West, creating a sense of open space even through his use of close proximity to the subjects and the crowded feeling of “claustrophobic hi-way traffic,” as Sheldon describes it.

These are Sheldon’s first observational paintings. Though still lifes, Sheldon believes that “painting is not about photography. It’s about painting.” This statement is reflected in the emotional qualities of his work. Each object can mean something different in each composition. His work is open to interpretation: “I’ll do half the work. You do the rest.”

Now a tenured professor at American River College, Sheldon spends his time painting, teaching, and serving as Director of the college’s James Kaneko Gallery. He describes Art as “a driving force that when you have it, it won’t let you go.” When he is not inspiring his students (who “haven’t liked painting still lifes of brown things”), he spends at least six hours a day during the semester and up to fourteen hours a day in the summers and winters dedicated to his work. As an alumnus of the University of Nevada, Reno, and holding an M.F.A. from UC Davis, Sheldon is erudite both in his field and in the geographical region that holds his attention in this series.

All of the paintings have titles that are arguably equally important as the compositions themselves. Each piece on display is somehow augmented by Sheldon’s choice of words. He uses this language to discern the actions and ‘characters’ in his arrangements, which are humorous, descriptive, and honest. Sheldon provides context for the actions of the bottles, cacti, skulls, and gourds, turning the ‘still life’ into life itself. The meaning of his work may change upon reading a title like Discovering the Gully Where All of the Animals Go to Die or Landslide Behind the Line Shack. Inanimate objects are transformed by his words into dynamic characters, flooding waters, tall trees, or mountains.

Although elements of humor can be seen in these recent works, Sheldon’s serious approach to his work and highly skilled technique cannot be overlooked. His commitment to and love for his art are equally demonstrated through his process, which takes around sixty hours for each painting, not including the hours for framing. The devotion to art as an integral part of who he is as an individual is evident throughout his body of work—and his ability to remain playful with both his use of visual language and titles, regarding both subject matter and self-identity, sets him apart as one of the most important contemporary artists in our region.

Still Lifes for Cowpokes grew out of an assignment he gave to his students; it was about “a human being looking at a table full of junk, moving the junk around, moving it around again and then drawing or painting those pieces of junk.” Sheldon sees the still life as essential, “if for nothing else, then for something to ponder and to wear around our heads like a ten gallon hat.” He invites the viewer to reflect upon his work:

“If you find yourself chuckling or out-loud laughing at my work, it will be okay. The humor is infused as a kind of way for everyone to be able to walk right into the image, get comfortable, put their feet up and stay for awhile. Take a look at the work. Enjoy yourselves and go home happy.”

In whatever sense one views Still Lifes for Cowpokes, its quality and splendor evoke meaning for us all. Experiencing Mick Sheldon’s work is experiencing a part of the West, past and present, enveloping you in a world you already know, but perhaps have not seen quite like this.

Phoebe Finch
Reno, Nevada
September 2011

top image: CCAI Courthouse Gallery installation view of Still Lifes for Cowpokes
bottom image: Laughed out of the Rodeo, oil on canvas over board, 36″ x 48″, 2008