#35 • Walter Piehl

Part of NDMOA: 29th Annual Autumn Art Auction (live auction by AcrePro )

Starting at $4,000.00

Status: Available

Lot 35 Walter Piehl Minot, North Dakota Proud Cut Flesh: Sweetheart of the Rodeo, 1987 Acrylic, mixed media 40 x 27.5 inches $5,500 – 6,500 Native North Dakotan artist, Walter Piehl, has lived a life that revolves around western american culture. Inducted into the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2019, Piehls art is an active preservation of rodeo and western heritage. From a young age, he has been involved with the rodeo as a coompetitor, producer, and announcer. Each of his works depict a piece of everday life, from a buzzing scene with horses and their riders or a peaceful collection of boots and hats, all painted in dazzling colors. I like polka dots, and I lke angular patterns on shirts for my riders; they add action. I want to see details in my paintings, but I want them to be very, very abstract in the same way. I don't like the idea that somebody could walk to the painting the first time and just identify everyting in there. I want them to find the paintings reveal themselves as they look at them several times perhaps, that it's not easy for them. Focusing on the action one can find in the rodeo, such as the bucking horses and bulls or the dynamics of a horse and their rider, Piehl sought out inspiration from Italian futurists, cubism, and abstract expressionists. He places emphasis on the way in which he applies paint to communicate to the viewer the energy and movement of not just the painting process but also the subject.