The Vastness of the Red Dirt Country 2017

Mark Maggiori painted "The Vastness of the Red Dirt Country" using oil paints. These paints are made with ground pigments, bound with drying oil – linseed oil – and are typically applied to a stretched canvas. Maggiori skillfully layers the paint, creating a depth of color and texture. We can see this, for example, in the way he describes the roughspun fabric of the cowboy’s vest, the animal fur draped over the horse, and the shifting cloud formations in the sky. The choice of oil paint is significant; it has a rich history deeply intertwined with the rise of capitalism, enabling detailed, realistic depictions of the world, and becoming synonymous with notions of cultural refinement. Maggiori is self-consciously playing with that history, and with a nostalgic view of labor and the land in the American West, and it's relationship with the natural world. By drawing attention to these materials and processes, we can appreciate how the artwork connects to broader social and historical contexts, going beyond the image itself.