Mild Mild West
Updated: Jul 28, 2022
See my latest collection Mild Mild West at Gallery Vertigo in Vernon BC.
The show will include work from when I began this series almost a year ago and some of my most recent and largest scale mixed media pieces to date.
Not in the Okanagan? Experience Mild Mild West Online
With the help of McQueen Agency and Artsy, we'll be launching Mild Mild West online to reach an audience around the world. Stay tuned for more info.
About the collection:
"Mild Mild West is an ongoing series of mixed media artwork by Dylan Johnston who goes by the moniker ‘Dunce’. The goal of the series is to blur the lines between street art and fine art with an innovative and experimental mixed media style. Dunce takes the defining elements from his street art background: spray paint, stencils and wheat paste that would typically be seen outdoors and brings them into a new setting, combining them with an array of nostalgic mixed media to give new life to the forgotten old west.
Personally, Dunce has always been infatuated with country music and old western movies which are recurring themes in his artwork. This planted the seed for the ‘Mild Mild West’, a collection of pop and urban art pieces using wild western comic books, pages from cowboy novels, vintage movie photographs and a lot of spray paint.
Dunce recontextualizes these images creating new stories within the individual pieces and the exhibition as a whole. He is inspired by pop art themes of reproduction, repetition or consumption which influence his work.
His artwork both romanticizes and critiques the wild west cliches. By removing the subject from its original context, the audience will have the opportunity to see the sentimental images in a new light. The individual works showcase an era of western cliches from damsels in distress and saloon girls to whiskey drinking outlaws who save the day and ride off into the sunset."
Opening Reception:
You're invited to the opening reception between the hours of 6:00 - 8:00 pm on Thursday August 4th 2022.
See you there!
Gallery Vertigo is located at 3105 28th Ave in Vernon BC.