Billy Schenck

Born in Ohio in 1947, Billy Schenck became passionate about art as a child. Influenced by cartoons, he drew Walt Disney’s Donald Duck and characters from the American humour magazine, Mad Magazine.

A trip to the Native American settlement of Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico at the age of five established a lifelong connection to the desert for Billy, who went on to attend Columbus College of Art and Design before graduating with a BFA from Kansas City Art Institute in 1969.

Following a move to New York, his first solo show at the age of 24 sold out – marking the start of a long and illustrious career. As one of the originators of the Western pop art movement, Billy incorporated photorealism techniques with a pop art sensibility both to celebrate and poke fun at Western imagery.

His early exploration of the relationship between art, celebrity and advertising saw Billy unite with Warholian iconoclasts in the 1960s and 1970s, during which time he mingled with celebrities such as the American music legend Lou Reed.

During a period in which the New York art scene rejected social and political commentary as too ‘literal’ and ‘dated’, Billy’s instinctive narrative arc marked him out from other creators. Artists Francis Bacon and John Clem Clarke became his mentors due to their incorporation of non-linear narrative content.

From the 1980s onwards, Billy began to expand his colour palette and add a mischievous, tongue-in-cheek slant to his work. Likening the Western genre to a metaphor, he continually sought to push the boundaries of the subject – leading him to be titled the founder of the ‘Western pop art’ movement.

His links to Andy Warhol were exemplified in 2018, when he shared a retrospective exhibition with the artist at the Briscoe Western Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas, from May to September 2018. Here, 26 pieces from his Myth of the West collection appeared alongside Warhol’s Cowboys and Indians. Now living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, his work can be found in major collections across the globe, including the Smithsonian Institution, Tucson Museum of Art and Saatchi & Saatchi. Additionally, Billy’s art has been the subject of several books, including the U.S. Literary Award-winning Schenck in the 21st Century: The Myth of the Hero and the Truth of America by Amy Abrams.

Billy is also a talented rodeo rider, having won a world championship for ranch sorting in 2009. He is the proprietor of the Double Standard Ranch in his hometown, illustrating that life truly does imitate art.