MAMAS, DON'T LET YOUR BABIES GROW UP TO BE COWBOYS

Nov 10 to 21 | Harry Wood Gallery

Closing reception | Nov 21 | 5 to 8 p.m.

“MAMAS, DON’T LET YOUR BABIES GROW UP TO BE COWBOYS”, a solo exhibition by Bailey Anderson, utilizes tropes from “spaghetti western” films to mount a cultural critique. The Spaghetti Western was a genre of film from the 1950s-70s that used artmaking as activism, critiquing Italian and Spanish fascism through the imagery and history of 19th 19th-century United States during the Civil War. Based on a 1978 song by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, this exhibition warns mothers of a terrible fate: their sons would become cold and distant, like the cowboys in the films. Life shaped by the Cold War and the film genre, romanticized violence in the West, and mourns the valiant heroism found in the mirage of the fabricated cowboy.

Through the imagery of Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner, and inspired by Sergio Leone's approaches, the sculptural work offers an alternative perspective on masculinity, colonialism, violence and censorship. The genre erases indigeneity, experiences of people of color, and the gaze of anyone in the West during the 18th and 19th centuries. Additionally, it does not account for true attitudes of US colonialism and how this nation shapes its foreign policy. This exhibition considers challenges in a society yearning for traditionalism while moving forward at an impossibly fast speed. 

Built in a system of cyclical violence, consumerism and gendered tension, the identity of a man — as reflected in the impossible ideal of the American cowboy — is expected to be constantly under construction.

Image: "THE CHAPEL" Budweiser bottles, solder. Image courtesy of the artist.