The Gunsmoke Circus

These paintings share a certain 'sameness' — a familial resemblance that speaks to their shared roots.

Creating any body of work is a challenge. The pieces are developed together, drawing commonality from the same seed of inspiration. They are executed at the same time, sharing space, colors, and materials. And for a time, they hang together in the same space. So there is inevitably a sense of relationship between each of the pieces in a collection.

And yet, the pieces do not stay together. They do not sell together. As a result, each piece should stand on its own merit. It must be complete in and of itself, even while it belongs to a larger community of work. This is the challenge — and the privilege — of creating a collection.

My 2026 Summer Show, The Gunsmoke Circus, is no exception. The title was drawn from a story out of a 1953 issue of Famous Western magazine and is intended to reflect the unpredictable and theatrical nature of the West. These paintings reconstruct those fragments, presenting the West as both memory and performance. This is the spectacle of the frontier as it was imagined through popular culture: a place where anything could happen at any moment — often ending in a hail of bullets and a cloud of gunsmoke.

These paintings share a certain 'sameness' — a familial resemblance that speaks to their shared roots. Each piece is carefully constructed over layers of textured medium, paper, ephemera, and paint. While the colors, themes, and subject matter vary widely, the paintings share a compositional framework that creates a certain kinship between them.

At the same time, the colors, themes and first impression vary widely. Drawing on broad themes from Western film, branding, and magazines, the collection touches on expansive Western narratives.The intention is that the collection feels both cohesive and broad, allowing each viewer to find the pieces or pieces which speak to them with the loudest voice.

You can view all of the finished works here - or join us for the opening reception July 1st, 2026, 5-7pm - Courtney Collins Fine Art, Big Sky MT.