MY RANCHING LIFE BILLBOARD : CATTLE 'OFF SCREEN' & BACKSTAGE BEHIND MY RANCHING LIFE BILLBOARD JULY 6, 2014

July 7, 2014

CATTLE 'OFF SCREEN' & BACKSTAGE BEHIND MY RANCHING LIFE BILLBOARD JULY 6, 2014

There is the cow that jumped over the moon then there are the cattle who trailed right out of the photograph. Here, some of them are standing backstage in present tense - waiting to jump back in time into the scene that is MY RANCHING LIFE BILLBOARD.

My homage to Buster Keaton's brilliant Sherlock Jr.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

MY RANCHING LIFE BILLBOARD PROJECT : South Dakota Interstate 90 East Mile Marker 76.86 just West of New Underwood, SD - 12 foot x 36 foot

Funded, in part, by a Project Grant from the SOUTH DAKOTA ARTS COUNCIL. South Dakota Arts Council support is provided with funds from the State of South Dakota, through the Department of Tourism and the National Endowment for the Arts.

A glimpse of family ranching in South Dakota. From MY RANCHING LIFE series photographed from horseback while cowboying on the Quarter Circle XL and 'neighboring' ranches. A public exhibition within the environment within the photograph. A CELEBRATION OF THE SOUTH DAKOTA COWBOY & THE WESTERN HERITAGE THAT LIVES ON IN THE STATE.

MY RANCHING LIFE BILLBOARD

I am very happy to present MY RANCHING LIFE BILLBOARD. A public exhibition inspired by the rear screen projections and fake environments of classic films as well as photographs and painted backdrops of an environment photographed within that actual environment. Creating the invisible transitional space between real and constructed. After years of driving by empty billboards and abandoned drive in movies theaters with their empty screens, I thought it was time to display one of MY RANCHING LIFE panorama photographs of the West, giant-sized, within the environment of the West. Although my photographs are of real South Dakota ranching and cowboying scenes, the black and white cinematic photographs set against the full color Great Plains sky give a nice nostalgic drive in movie feel. What better setting for a document of a life set on what feels and looks like a grand western movie set – complete with a full cast of cowboys. Instead of waiting for an exhibition opportunity, I decided to forge my own path and display MY RANCHING LIFE photographs under the vast South Dakota sky within the region where the photographs were captured. I hope the billboard will give passersby an inside ‘view from the saddle’ of family ranching and cowboy life that still exist today in western South Dakota. Perhaps temporarily visually transporting them to horseback. Thank you to the South Dakota Arts Council for awarding my Grant Proposal.