Billy Schenck Biography

Billy Schenck Biography

Billy Schenck has been known internationally for 44 years as one of the originators of the contemporary "Pop" western movement. Schenck has had over 100 solo shows and is included in 44 museum collections. He is an American painter who incorporates techniques from Photo-Realism with a Pop Art sensibility to both exalt and poke fun at images of the West.

Career highlights for the artist include the 2013 Utah Museum of Fine Art’s Bierstadt to Warhol: American Indians in the West exhibit, the Denver Art Museum’s “Western Horizons” and a retrospective of serigraphs created by Schenck from 1971 through 1996 at the Tucson Museum of Art.

Museum collections include the Mesa Southwest Museum, The Tucson Museum of Art, The Denver Art Museum, Museum of the Southwest, Midland TX, Albuquerque Fine Arts Museum and the New Mexico Museum of Art.

Private collections include the estate of Malcolm Forbes, Steve Forbes, Chris Evert, Elaine Horwitch, Louis Meisel, Martina Navratilova, Laurance Rockefeller, the estate of Fritz Scholder and Sylvester Stallone.

Corporate collections include: American Airlines, I.B.M., Raymond James Financial, Wells Fargo Bank, Hilton Hotels, Sturm Ruger and The National Bank of Switzerland.

“What has remained constant throughout Schenck’s career is his individuality in dealing with the subject matter of the west. Using the artistic formula of classic western film direction and the photographically reliant systems of contemporary art, he has bridged two genres that resonate with the American experience. From early depictions of cinematic cowboys to real-life cowboys and cowgirls to poetic reveries about the Native American existence in the Southwest, Schenck melds the real with the imagined, autobiography with fantasy.”

-Julie Sasse, Chief Curator and Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Tucson Museum of Art

Education
  • 1965-1967  Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, Ohio
  • 1967-1969  BFA Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri
  • 2014 - Patron Choice Award, “Night of the Artists” The Briscoe Western Art Museum, San Antonio, TX
  • 2014 - Best of Western Books Award in the Modern Western Art category, True West Magazine, for his book Schenck in the 21st Century: The Myth of the Hero and the Truth of America
  • 2013 - U.S. Literary Award for Fine Arts for his book Schenck in the 21st Century: The Myth of the Hero and the Truth of America
  • 2013 - Silver Medal Winner for Painting, “The West Select” Phoenix Art Museum, AZ
  • 2010 - Tucson Museum of Art, Panel Discussion, Cinematic Influences on Western Art
  • 2006 - Booth Western Art Museum, Saturday Evening Lecture with Billy Schenck

Selected Public Collections:

  • University of Arizona Libraries Special Collections, Tucson, Arizona
  • Arizona State University Libraries Special Collections, Tempe, Arizona
  • Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, Arizona
  • Sky Harbor Airport, Phoenix, Arizona
  • St. Luke's Hospital, Phoenix, Arizona
  • Edward Shaw Cancer Clinic, Vail Hospital, Vail, Colorado    
  • Presbyterian Ear Institute, Albuquerque, New Mexico
  • Governor's Mansion, Santa Fe, New Mexico
  • Santa Fe Public Library, Santa Fe, New Mexico
  • Lander Valley Medical Center, Lander, Wyoming
  • Sam and Diane Stewart Foundation, Salt Lake City, Utah
  • St. John’s Medical Center, Jackson, Wyoming

 

Selected Corporate Collections: 

  • American Airlines, Phoenix, Arizona
  • Jim Simmons (United Bank), Phoenix, Arizona
  • Valley National Bank, Phoenix, Arizona
  • Est, Est, Scottsdale, Arizona
  • I.B.M., Tucson, Arizona
  • United California Bank, Los Angeles, California
  • Wells Fargo Bank, Los Angeles, California
  • Art Programs, San Francisco, California
  • Hilton Hotel, Grand Junction, Colorado
  • McDonald's Corporation , Chicago, Illinois
  • Bob Burnett (Meredith Corporation), Des Moines, Iowa
  • Pioneer Car Stereo, Tokyo, Japan
  • Suntory Liquors , Tokyo, Japan
  • Sturn Ruger Corporation, New Jersey
  • Security Pacific Bank, New York, New York
  • National Bank of Switzerland, Geneva, Switzerland
  • First Interstate Bank, Salt Lake City, Utah
  • Jackson State Bank, Jackson, Wyoming
  • Mountain Bell, Laramie, Wyoming
  • Northern Trust Bank, Phoenix, Arizona
  • Raymond James Financial Collection, St. Petersburg, Florida
  • Vermillion Editions Limited, Amarillo, Texas
  • Superstition Mountain Historical Museum, Apache Junction, Arizona
  • Mesa Southwest Museum, Mesa, Arizona
  • Scottsdale Center for the Arts, Scottsdale, Arizona
  • West Valley Art Museum, Surprise, Arizona
  • Matthews Center, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
  • University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
  • Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona
  • Desert Caballeros Western Museum, Wickenberg, Arizona
  • The Autry Museum of Western Heritage, Anaheim, California
  • Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado
  • Housatonic Community College, Westport, Connecticut
  • Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
  • The Booth Western Art Museum, Cartersville, Georgia
  • Brigham Young University-Idaho, Rexburg, ID                          
  • Notre Dame Business College, Bloomington, Indiana
  • Midwest Museum, Elkhart, Indiana
  • Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, Indiana
  • Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana
  • Brandeis University Museum, Boston, Massachusetts
  • Babson College Art Collection, Wellesley, Massachusetts
  • Belger Arts Center, Kansas City, Missouri      
  • Springfield Art Museum, Springfield, Missouri
  • Albrecht Kemper Museum of Art, St. Joseph, Missouri
  • Yellowstone Art Center, Billings, Montana
  • Missoula Museum of the Arts, Missoula, Montana
  • Albuquerque Fine Arts Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico
  • New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
  • Pickard Gallery, Colgate University, Hamilton, New York
  • Otterbein College, Westerville, Ohio
  • C.B. Goddard Center for the Arts, Ardmore, Oklahoma
  • Fred Jones Museum of Art, Norman, Oklahoma
  • Coos Art Museum, Coos Bay, Oregon
  • Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas
  • Museum of the Southwest, Midland, Texas
  • Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah
  • Rose Art Museum, Richmond, Virginia
  • Clymer Museum, Ellensburg, Washington
  • Nicolaysen Museum, Casper, Wyoming
  • Wyoming State Museum, Cheyenne, Wyoming
  • Whitney Gallery of Western Art, Cody, Wyoming
  • The Nelson Museum of Western Art, Cheyenne, Wyoming
  • Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, California
  • Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ
  • Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, Washington
  • West Texas A & M University, Canyon, Texas

Selected Solo Exhibitions: 

  • 2022 Schenck’s Utah – A Land Less Traveled, Modern West Fine Art, Salt Lake City, UT – January 21, 2022
  • 2021     Descansos by Billy Schenck,Blue Rain Gallery, Santa Fe, NM,  January 15- February 6, 2021.
  • 2021    New Works, Solo Show, Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ
  • 2021     Andy Warhol: Cowboys and Indians/Billy Schenck: The Myth of the West,C.M. Russell Museum, Great Falls, MT, Summer 2021.
  • 2014    "The Myth of the West," Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ
  • 2013    Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ
  • 2011    Tucson Museum of Art, "Bill Schenck Serigraphs 1971-1996 Retrospective", Tucson, AZ
  • 2010    The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho, Bill Schenck Serigraphs 1971-1996 Retrospective, Idaho Falls, ID
  • 2010    Strong Schenck Galleries, Bill Schenck: "New Paintings", Santa Fe, NM
  • 2010    Strong Schenck Galleries, "Bill Schenck New Paintings", Scottsdale, AZ
  • 2009    Strong Schenck Galleries, Grand Opening Solo Exhibition, Santa Fe, NM
  • 2007   Tadu Contemporary/Schenck Southwest, "'Till the End of Time" Graffiti     paintings, Santa Fe, NM
  • 2006    Booth Western Art Museum, "Post Apocalyptic Pop", Cartersville, GA
  • 2002    West Valley Museum, "New Directions", Surprize, Arizona
  • 2001    Museum of the Southwest, "Point of Departure", Midland, Texas
  • 1996    Albrecht Kemper Museum of Art, Ten Year Retrospective, "The West as it Never Was", St. Joseph, Missouri
  • 1990    Wyoming State Museum, Cheyenne, Wyoming, "Bill Schenck, A 10 Year Retrospective 1980 - 1990"
  • 1987    Kimball Art Center, Park City, Utah
  • 1983    Scottsdale Center for the Arts, "Bill Schenck 1968-83, 15 Year Retrospective", Scottsdale, Arizona
  • 1978    West Nebraska Arts Center, Scottsbluff, Nebraska
  • 1975-76 Concord Courthouse Bicentennial Exhibition, Concord, Massachusetts
  • 1971    "100 + 101" Loft Exhibition, New York, New York 

  

Selected Group Exhibitions:

  • 2021      Billy Schenck, Dennis Ziemienski: Two Man Show of New Paintings, Blue Rain Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, July 30 – August 21, 2021.               
  • 2021      Night of Artists, Briscoe Western Art Museum, San Antonio, TX, March 28 – May 9, 2021.
  • 2021      Masters of the American West, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles, CA, February 27 – April 11, 2021.
  • 2021  "Night of Artists" Briscoe Western Art Museum, TX
  • 2019  "New Works" Group Show, Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ
  • 2019   "Along the Distant Mesa: An Homage to Maynard Dixon" Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ
  • 2019   "Night of the Artists," Briscoe Western Art Museum
  • 2017   "25th Anniversary Celebration" Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ
  • 2014   “Night of the Artists” The Briscoe Western Art Museum, San Antonio, TX
  • 2014    Museum of Fine Arts “New Mexico and the Arts of Enchantment, St. Petersburg, FL
  • 2014   LA Art Show, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2013   National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum “Small Works, Great Wonders,” Oklahoma City, OK
  • 2013   “The West Select” Phoenix Art Museum, AZ
  • 2013   NM Museum of Art, “Back in the Saddle”, Santa Fe, NM, curated by John Torres Nez and Joseph Traugott
  • 2013   Briscoe Western Art Museum, “Night of Artists”, San Antonio, TX
  • 2013   The Coeur d'Alene Art Auction group, “March in Montana”, Great Falls, MT
  • 2013   Utah Museum of Fine Arts, “Bierstadt To Warhol: American Indians in the West”, Salt Lake City, UT
  • 2012   The West Gallery, “Grand Opening”, Berlin, Germany
  • 1983    Alberta College of Art Gallery, "2nd Annual Wild West Show", Calgary, Alberta, Canada
  • 1982    Centro De Arte Moderno, Guadalajara, Mexico
  • 1976    Grand Hornu Gallery, "U.S.A. Contemporary Artists", Grand Hornu, Belgium
  • 1976    "U.S.A. Contemporary Artists", Mons, Belgium 
  • 1976    Fiore Internationale D'Art, Group Show, Comtebrain, Paris, France
  • 1974    Gallery Moos, Ltd., "Aspects of Realism", Toronto, Canada
  • 1974    Gallerie Trois Porte, Mons, Belgium 
  • Albright, Jakarta, Indonesia
  • Benbassat, Milan, Italy
  • Daniele Bodini, New York / Milan, Italy
  • Cinqualbre, Strasbourg, France
  • John Duffield, Geneva, Switzerland
  • Estate of Malcom Forbes, New York, New York
  • Kip Forbes, New York, New York
  • Steve Forbes, New York, New York
  • Fruh, Strasbourg, France
  • Genevieve Gilles, Paris, France
  • Erivan & Helga Haub, Cologne, Germany
  • Daniel Hechter, Paris, France
  • Housez , Antibes, France
  • International Gallery, Des Moines, Iowa
  • Larry Kristowiak  , Utah Jazz (NBA)
  • Pierre Kubel, Paris, France
  • Galleria Levi, New Haven, Connecticut
  • Limereau, Paris, France
  • Maytag, Jackson, Wyoming
  • Alexandra Monnett Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
  • Spence, Moriarity & Schuster, Jackson, Wyoming
  • Terry Muholland, NY Yankees/Philadelphia Phillies
  • Elfreide Pfaff, Reichershofen, Germany
  • Edmund Pillsbury, Zurich, Switzerland
  • Phillipe Reichenbach, Paris, France
  • Bernhard Reudy, Detikon, Switzerland
  • Lawrence Rockefeller, New York, New York
  • Saatchi & Saatchi, New York, New York
  • Victor & Marina Savoie, Geneva, Switzerland
  • Fritz Scholder, Scottsdale, Arizona
  • Senator Allen Simpson, Cody, Wyoming
  • Dr. J.L. Silverman, Brussels, Belgium
  • Sylvester Stallone, Los Angeles, California
  • Warren Benedek, New York, New York
  • Dr. W. Bowden II, Columbis, Ohio
  • John Cushman, Los Angeles, California
  • Victoria DuPont, Jackson, Wyoming
  • Bob Egleston, Los Angeles, California
  • Chris Everett, Boca Raton, Florida
  • Dr. Ivan Gerhardt, Bayport, New York
  • Peter Hassrick, Cody, Wyoming
  • Tom and Mary James, St. Petersburg, Florida
  • Ivan Karp, New York, New York
  • Stacey Keach, Corpus Christi, Texas
  • Joe and Helga Loeffler, Aspen, Colorado
  • Robert Mayer, Chicago, Illinois
  • Dr. Norman Messite, New York, New York
  • Monroe Meyerson, Milford, Connecticut
  • Martina Navritalova, Aspen, Colorado
  • Watson Powell, Des Moines, Iowa
  • Dr. and Mrs. Howard Raskin, Baltimore, Maryland
  • J. T. Sollar, New York, New York
  • Saul Steinberg, New Yoek, New York
  • Dr. James F. Tams, Nashville, Tennessee
  • Dr. Linelle Wagner, Chinle, Arizona
  • Bill Weiss, Cody, Wyoming
  • Paul Westphal, Phoenix, Arizona
  • Valerie Williams, Jackson, Wyoming
  • 2021 Western Art Collector, October
  • 2021 Western Art Collector, May
  • 2021 Southwest Art, May
  • 2021 Western Art Collector, April
  • 2021 Southwest Art, March/April
  • 2021 Western Art Collector, January
  • 2020 Western Art and Architecture, October-November
  • 2020 Western Art and Architecture, June-July
  • 2019 Western Art Collector, November
  • 2019 Western Art Collector, June, "Meeting the Rising Sun" by John O'Hern
  • 2019 Western Art and Architecture, June/July
  • 2019 Western Art Collector, January
  • 2018 "Maynard Dixon's American West: Along the Distant Mesa" by Mark Sublette
  • 2018 Western Art Collector, November
  • 2018 Western Art Collector, August
  • 2018 Western Art Collector, July
  • 2018 Western Art and Architecture, June/July issue
  • 2018 Western Art Collector, February issue
  • 2017 Western Art Collector, December issue
  • 2017 Western Art Collector, November issue
  • 2014 Poster for Durango Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Durango, CO, October 2 - 5.
  • 2014 Poster for Santa Fe Wine Festival, Santa Fe, NM, July 5 – 06.
  • 2014 “Billy Schenck: Artist Profile,” Horse Around New Mexico, March/April 2014, pp. 14 - 15.
  • 2014 Stinson, Anne. “Tidewater Review,” Tidewater Times, March 2014, pp. 71 - 76.
  • 2014“Western Images,” Western Art Collector, March 2014, Pp. 134 - 135.
  • 2014  “New Mexico and the Arts of Enchantment,” Mosaic, Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL, Cover illustration, p. 3.
  • 2014 Medicine Man Gallery Advertisement, “Billy Schenck: New Works,” Western Art Collector, Jan. 2014.  Image, p. 14
  • 2013 “Things We Love.”  Western Art & Architecture.  Dec. 2013/Jan. 2014.
  • 2013 Henderson, Holly. “Billy Schenck.” Cowboys & Indians Magazine. Nov./ Dec. 2013. pp. 33, 82 - 83.   
  • 2013  The West Select Ad.  The New Mexican.  Oct. 20, 2013.  C-5.
  • 2013   Phx Art Magazine.  “The West Select.”  October 2013 - January 2014.  Cover illustration. 
  • 2013  Booth Bulletin: A Publication of the Booth Western Art Museum.  Vol. 10, Issue 3.  Fall 2013.  Cover image. 
  • 2013 Rosebrook, Stuart. “Building Your Western Library: Billy Schenck’s Favorite Reads.” True West, October 2013, pp. 58.
  • 2013  Abatemarco, Michael.  “Bill Schenck’s Varicolored Take On Cowboys & Indians.” Pasatiempo, July 26, 2013, pp. 68 - 70.
  • 2013  “The Briscoe Night of Artists.” Cowboys & Indians, July 2013, p. 76.
  • 2013  El Palacio: Art, History and Culture of the West, front cover illustration, Summer 2013 Vol. 118/No. 2.
  • 2013  Carlson, Jeffrey. “Western and Pop Art Collide in the Paintings of Bill Schenck,” Fine Art Connoisseur, May 8, 2013.
  • 2013  Alexander, Beau. “All Things Western,” Western Art Colector, May 2013, pp. 90 - 91.
  • 2013 Poulton, Donna.  “Bierstadt to Warhol: American Indians in the West.”  Utah Museum of Fine Arts catalog, Illustrated. 
  • 2013  Poulton, Donna. “Perspective: Bierstadt to Warhol-American Indians in the West,” Western Art & Architecture, February/March, 2013.  
  • 2013  Fulton, Ben.  “New UMFA exhibit chronicles the American Indian in Art,” The Salt Lake   Tribune, February 18, 2013.
  • 2013  Abatemarco, Michael.  “This Old Horse,” The New Mexican Pasatiempo, February 8, 2013, pp. 42 - 44.
  • 2013 “State of the Art: Arizona,” Western Art Collector, January 2013.  Illustrated p. 65.
  • 2012 Davies, Donna. “Helga and Erivan Haub Collection Of Western Art, Volume III.” Ilustrated pp. 84 - 85.
  • 2012  The Santa Fean Magazine (Front Cover).  Summer issue 2012.
  • 2012 “ The West in a Wing of Its Own,” The Wall Street Journal, July 6, 2012.
  • 2012  Kolpas, Norman. “Schenck: Pop Maverick,” (Front Cover & Article) Southwest Art Magazine, August 2012.
  • 2012  Boggs, Johnny.  “The West Gets Wilder,”  New Mexico Magazine, June, 2012, illustrated pp. 24 -  25.
  • 2012  Activity Guide Tucson Museum of Art. (Front Cover).  June 2012
  • 2012  “Tacoma Art Museum receives gift from Haub family.” ArtFortune.com, July 11, 2012
  • 2012 “Gift of 280 works of American Western art.” Tacoma Art Museum Press Release, July 9, 2012
  • 2012  “Tacoma Museum To Get Collection.” Seattle Times, July 8, 2012.