Beyond The West | Exhibition & Artist Talk

West Chelsea Contemporary is pleased to invite you to the opening reception of Beyond The West on Saturday, February 21st from 2-4pm.

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The American West has long been framed by myth, aspiration, and nostalgia. Beyond the West decisively moves past these conventions, presenting the West as it exists now: a contemporary luxury mindset defined by confidence, restraint, and self-possession. This exhibition positions the West not as a geographic region or inherited mythology, but as a refined state of mind – visually authoritative, culturally fluent, and unapologetically modern.
Here, Americana is elevated through control rather than excess. Space is treated as power. Identity is conveyed through presence, not performance. The works in Beyond the West do not rely on costume or sentimentality; they assert themselves with clarity and composure.
Featured artists Terry Urban, Miles Glynn and Geoffrey Gersten translate the raw intensity of the West into high-impact portraiture and place-based works that move beyond vintage nostalgia. Drawing from classical portraiture, figurative abstraction, and iconic landscape traditions, their practices forge a contemporary visual language rooted in discipline and precision. Todd Sanders’ illuminated icons introduce a controlled sense of wit and reverence for American beauty, while a preview of works by Saint No. injects an untamed edge—subtle, charged, and current.
Drew Merritt contributes a new body of emotionally resonant portraiture drawn from the Llano Estacado, blending historical accuracy, legend, and imagination into images that feel both intimate and cinematic. His work underscores the exhibition’s central thesis: the Western spirit endures not as a relic, but as an evolving expression of self-definition and style.
Aligning with the Neo-Western sensibility seen in contemporary film, fashion, and media, this exhibition reframes frontier themes as present-day realities, replacing nostalgia with ownership and myth with agency. Beyond the West is not about rediscovery. It is about authority.

A decisive evolution of the Western aesthetic — confident, distilled, and unmistakably now.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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Host or Publisher West Chelsea Contemporary