In "The West That Never Was," artist couple Felice House and Dana Younger take aim at the Western pulp genre, delving into a realm where high and low art converge. With its roots in dime novels, toys and sensationalist storytelling, the Western pulp genre provides fertile ground for reinterpretation through a contemporary lens. Drawing inspiration from its exaggerated aesthetics, House and Younger seek to deconstruct and reimagine these familiar tropes.

House, Associate Professor of painting at Texas A&M University, uses bold colors and layered compositions in her paintings implying the narrative covers of dime store Western novels. Her heroes are women in roles historically reserved for men. Viewers can imagine the narratives suggested in her paintings, where women overcome adversity with cunning while looking amazing yet not being prey for the male gaze. Her work is playful and evokes a sense of nostalgia while inviting critical engagement with contemporary themes.

Younger, full-time sculptor and co-owner of the Blue Genie Art Bazaar, deconstructs, modifies and rebuilds masculine Western tropes. Though sculpture, he blends craftsmanship with contemporary artistic sensibilities and processes. He finds inspiration in toys as cultural artifacts that transcend mere playthings, evolving into symbols of collective imagination and societal values. By reinterpreting these familiar icons, he seeks to capture and reimagine the essence of nostalgia, identity and the evolving narratives of contemporary existence.

House and Younger use their marriage of painting and sculpture to blur the lines between high and low culture subverting the traditional hierarchies of artistic value to provoke a deeper understanding of how the Western genre influenced American identity. Their work invites a dialogue between past and present in the context of our evolving society.

The exhibition will remain on display through September 7.