Telling Stories

Media personality Glenn Beck brings a stunning selection of Western art to a new show in Texas.

By Michael Clawson

Conservative political commentator and media personality Glenn Beck has grown up around art throughout much of his life. Years ago, he finally started putting brush to canvas, but only after an art friend was hesitant to teach him.

“She would see me grinding away, trapped in painter’s hell. She would look at me and ask, ‘How’s it going?’ I would tell her, ‘Shut up, you can make this go away,’” Beck remembers of those early struggles as a painter. “Finally, she came back to me to tell me she thought I wasn’t serious, but after watching me three years she realized how serious I was.”

C. Michael Dudash, The Send Off – Pony Express 1861, oil on linen, 24 x 36 in.

The first painting Beck would undertake with his new teacher was a landscape. As they painted, she asked him to tell stories about things that interested him. Naturally, ever the historian, Beck spoke passionately about American history. “When the painting was done, she told me that should be the last landscape I ever do,” he recalls. “I thought it was quite good, so I was pleased, but what she was telling me was that I shouldn’t paint landscapes because I was a storyteller.”

Heide Presse, Along the Sweetwater, oil on Belgian linen, 40 x 30 in.

This idea that art could tell stories is at the very heart of Beck’s new art show, American Narratives in Fine Art, which will be held on September 20 and 21 in Irving, Texas. The show is being put on by Mercury Radio Arts, Beck’s media company that runs his vast empire that includes radio, TV, blogs, podcasts and books. He admits he needed help choosing the artists since he was not as connected to the art world as many of his art friends, but once the artists agreed, he encouraged them to paint what they wanted with a focus on storytelling.

“There are a lot of artists who are trapped into whatever it is they do, because that’s what the art gallery wants. The gallery tells them, ‘More of that.’ But they all have stories to tell, and they can get away with telling them if given the chance,” Beck says. “I see storytelling as a way to talk about values, principles and, most importantly, American history. History has become so boring because it’s all about dates, so I wanted to share my collection of artifacts with these artists and see what inspired these guys. I want their work to be judged not by art critics, but by people who understand and appreciate history and stories.”

Michael Malm, “Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles…”, oil, 40 x 24 in.

Artists in the show include a fascinating grouping of top Western artists, including Thomas Blackshear II, Tom Browning, John Buxton, C. Michael Dudash, Michelle Dunaway, Luke Frazier, Dan Gerhartz, Robert Griffing, Michael Malm, Curt Mattson, JoAnn Peralta, Heide Presse, Grant Redden, Jason Rich, R.S. Riddick, Scott Rogers, Andy Thomas, Albin Veselka, Jeremy Winborg and others.

Glenn Beck, Better Days, oil, 48 x 48 in.

While many of the images are Western in theme, other subjects that appear in numerous works includepatriotism and stories from American history. Consider Andy Thomas’ painting Yorktown, showing dozens of soldiers in a maelstrom of carnage amid a battle scene. “Yorktown was the last battle of the Revolutionary War. On the night of October 14, 1781, 400 American soldiers, under the command of Alexander Hamilton, assaulted British Redoubt Number 10 at the Battle of Yorktown in Virginia,” Thomas says of the work. “Their muskets had no gunpowder but the bayonets were fixed. They crossed the ground, struggled through the wooden abatis, dropped into the ditch and scaled the parapet under fire from the defenders. Various additional forces coalesced at Yorktown to outfox the British in this campaign. The surrender of Lord Cornwallis at this battle led the British to negotiate an end to the war.”

Jason Rich, Rooster’s Ride, oil, 45 x 41 in.

Dudash will be showing another part of history with his work The Send Off – Pony Express 1861. “This painting illustrates a moment in the fast-paced world of riders and horse wranglers that made up the critical elements of the express,” he says. “Relay stations were between 10 to 15 miles apart, and a quick stop involved a change of horses, a cool drink of water and not much else. A slap on the hind quarter of the rider’s horse is a reminder that keeping a tight schedule was top priority.”

Andy Thomas, Yorktown, oil on linen, 28 x 40 in.

Painter Jason Rich, whose wife Kari Rich is organizing and promoting the show, will be showing a piece of fictional history, but one that will resonate with collectors. “The American cowboy is an iconic symbol of our country. Growing up, I idolized the cowboy lifestyle and nobody epitomized that more for me than John Wayne, sitting tall and tough in the saddle. I watched all his films and removed my hat and bowed by head every time I heard his voice recording of the ‘Cowboy Prayer’ played over the loudspeaker at the many rodeos I attended,” Jason Rich says. “One of my favorite John Wayne movies is True Grit, the film he received the Academy Award for best actor in 1969. This painting interprets the climactic scene where Rooster Cogburn faces off with Ned and his gang, holding the reins in his teeth and wielding a pistol and rifle in each hand.”

Josh Clare, They the Builders of the Nation, oil on board, 30 x 30 in.

For Beck, it’s these image of the West that speak to the power of the show. “The West defines the American spirit,” he says.

All of the artwork in American Narratives in Fine Artwill be available for purchase via fixed-price, by-draw sale held on September 21. Absentee bidding will be available. —