In Hyperrealistic Oil Paintings, Chloe West Summons Magical Realism in the American West

Set against mountains, desert plains, and the cobalt blue skies one finds at high elevations, Chloe West’s striking oil paintings merge Dutch Golden Age iconographies with both mythic and everyday motifs of the American West.

West was born and raised in Wyoming, the peaks and pastures of which continue to influence her hyperrealistic figurative works. In her current solo exhibition, Games of Chance at HARPER’S, the artist draws on European portraiture and still life traditions in a series of self-portraits and tableaux challenging stereotypes of the West as a frontier molded by machismo.

a portrait of a brown-haired woman seated at a table next to an animal skull against a blue sky — “Cowboy Philosopher” (2024-25), oil on linen, 84 x 68 inches

“Cowboy Philosopher,” for example, portrays the artist in direct confrontation with the viewer, seated beside a mountain lion skull at a table covered with a celestial tapestry. The painting evokes Salomon Koninck’s “A Philosopher” (1635) and works by other Flemish artists of the 17th and 18th centuries, who often depicted alchemists and scholars in their studies accompanied by skulls, devices, and documents.

West subverts our understanding of cowboy culture as predominantly masculine, juxtaposing her own body with bones, small weapons, and fabric backdrops that establish a tension between life and death, folklore and daily life, and the sacred and the profane. Animal bones, thorns, and knives nod to memento mori, a reminder of the impermanence of life, while also invoking the supernatural and a sense of cyclical time. Casting deep, dark shadows, the glaring sun reveals all.

Portraying herself in western wear, West bonds to the continuum of the landscape and its customs and narratives while considering the way European attitudes and actions like Manifest Destiny shaped our understanding of the region. The artist taps into legend, history, and magical realism to blur distinctions between the past and contemporary experience. “Ultimately, throughout Games of Chance, West confronts the idealization of frontier heroism, dismantling its pre-established boundaries and expanding upon the legacy it left behind,” the gallery says.

Games of Chance opens today and continues through May 10 in New York City. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

an oil painting of a woman's hand holding an opossum skull in her palm set against a Western landscape with dramatic clouds — “Hand with Opossum Skull” (2024-25), oil on linen, 24 x 20 inches

a detail of an oil painting showing a woman's hand and the fabric details of a red Western shirt — Detail of “Gored Cowboy”

a still life oil painting of a group of animal bones suspended on a pink cloth with dark shadows, draped in front of a Western landscape — “Trapper’s Still Life” (2024-5), oil on linen, 48 x 38 inches

an oil painting of a woman's back with a line of small animal bones down her spine — “Pearled Back” (2024-25), oil on linen, 58 x 46 inches

a portrait of a brown-haired woman in front of a red drape, which hangs in front of a Western landscape, with an animal skull being held in front of her eyes — “Portrait with Capped Skull” (2024-25), oil on linen, 58 x 48 inches

an oil painting of a pocketknife on a blue handkerchief — “Pocketknife” (2024), oil on linen, 16 x 12 inches

an oil painting still life of an antlered animal skull suspended on a purple cloth, draped in front of a Western landscape — “St. Veronica at the Geyser Basin” (2024-25, oil on linen, 48 x 38 inches

an oil painting of a woman's hand holding a thorn in front of a dusky Western landscape — “Hand with Thorn” (2024-25), oil on linen, 24h x 20w in

a detail of an oil painting showing a woman's hands gesticulating near an animal skull — Detail of “Cowboy Philosopher”

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