Beyond the West

BEYOND THE WEST

For the Dreamers For the Brave

For the Bold

BEYOND THE WEST

FEBRUARY 19 - APRIL 5, 2026

BEYOND THE WEST

The American West has long been framed by myth, aspiration, and nostalgia. Beyond the West decisively moves past these conventions, presenting the West as it exists now: a contemporary luxury mindset defined by confidence, restraint, and self-possession. This exhibition positions the West not as a geographic region or inherited mythology, but as a refined state of mind – visually authoritative, culturally fluent, and unapologetically modern.

Here, Americana is elevated through control rather than excess. Space is treated as power. Identity is conveyed through presence, not performance. The works in Beyond the West do not rely on costume or sentimentality; they assert themselves with clarity and composure.

Featured artists Terry Urban, Miles Glynn and Geoffrey Gersten translate the raw intensity of the West into high-impact portraiture and place-based works that move beyond vintage nostalgia. Drawing from classical portraiture, figurative abstraction, and iconic landscape traditions, their practices forge a contemporary visual language rooted in discipline and precision. Todd Sanders’ illuminated icons introduce a controlled sense of wit and reverence for American beauty, while a preview of works by Saint No injects an untamed edge—subtle, charged, and current.

Drew Merritt contributes a new body of emotionally resonant portraiture drawn from the Llano Estacado, blending historical accuracy, legend, and imagination into images that feel both intimate and cinematic. His work underscores the exhibition’s central thesis: the Western spirit endures not as a relic, but as an evolving expression of self-definition and style. A survey of works by esteemed photographer Beau Simmons provides a stunning photographic counterpoint, capturing on film the West's inherent authenticity by emphasizing its cinematic shadows and visual truths as a foil to Merritt’s painted narratives and emotional landscape.

Aligning with the Neo-Western sensibility seen in contemporary film, fashion, and media, this exhibition reframes frontier themes as present-day realities, replacing nostalgia with ownership and myth with agency. Beyond the West is not about rediscovery. It is about authority. A decisive evolution of the Western aesthetic — confident, distilled, and unmistakably now.

TERRY URBAN American, b. 1977

Terry Urban is a contemporary American artist whose work blends expressive intensity with symbolic storytelling. Born and raised in the industrial city of Cleveland, Ohio, Urban draws deeply from his blue-collar roots and personal history. His upbringing in an Irish American household, along with the influence of a Cherokee stepfather, shaped a worldview grounded in resilience, struggle, and a strong connection to the underdog.

Urban’s paintings are marked by bold color, emotional contrast, and a recurring fascination with mortality. Working on canvas and wood, he explores the darker sides of the human experience with a visual language that feels both personal and mythic. Skulls, bones, and fragmented figures populate his compositions, evoking themes of impermanence, vulnerability, and inner conflict. Though often heavy in tone, his work carries an undercurrent of vitality, driven by a restless curiosity and a desire to confront what lies beneath the surface.

At the heart of Urban’s practice is a desire to remain true to his origins while pushing the boundaries of how art can speak to the human condition. His work stands as a testament to the strength it takes to look inward and the clarity that can emerge from doing so. His exploration of life’s most enigmatic truths gives his art its emotional weight and distinctive voice creating a body of work that feels raw, immediate, and emotionally honest.

Terry Urban

All My Changes Were There, 2026

Acrylic, oil, pastel, charcoal, and aerosol on canvas

48" x 36"

$12,500

as the West Texas Wind, 2026

Terry Urban Last Call, 2026

Terry Urban

To Bonnie, 2026

Terry Urban

A Thousand Miles from Nowhere, 2026

Acrylic, oil, pastel, charcoal, and aerosol on canvas 60" x 48"

$16,500

No Ordinary Dude, 2025

Terry Urban Until The End, 2026

Urban Year of the Horse, 2026

MILES GLYNN

American, b. 1980

Miles Glynn is a contemporary American artist whose mixed media works reimagine vintage Americana through bold, layered compositions. Drawing from early 20thcentury photographs, advertisements, and printed ephemera, Glynn combines silkscreen, paint, and collage to construct images that feel both archival and distinctly contemporary.

Raised as the son of a U.S. Army photojournalist, Glynn developed an early sensitivity to visual storytelling and the emotional weight of images. His works are built through physical layering, abrasion, and reworking, Glynn’s surfaces retain traces of their own construction. Fragments of imagery emerge and recede beneath veils of paint, creating compositions that feel weathered and cinematic.

This foundation shapes his ongoing Lost Cowboy series, which centers on solitary, often faceless figures set within rugged landscapes. Revisiting the cowboy as an enduring image within American visual culture and using anonymity to reconsider how inherited imagery continues to shape contemporary ideas of identity and place.

GEOFFREY GERSTEN

American, b. 1986

Drawing from vintage advertisements, printed ephemera, matchbooks, toys, and tattered product packaging from the 1930s to the 1960s, Geoffrey Gersten reanimates fragments of everyday life with color, light, and tactile surface detail. At a distance, his paintings read as photorealistic; up close, they dissolve into lush impasto, torn paper edges, and flecks of colored light.

Born in 1986, Gersten followed an unconventional path to fine art. A teenage virtuoso in computer-aided design, he was recruited straight out of high school into aviation manufacturing before leaving the tech world in search of a more expressive creative life. Entirely self-taught, he spent more than a decade studying the methods of the Dutch and Flemish Golden Age, adapting their techniques to contemporary subject matter, with subtle nods to Pop and commercial aesthetics.

Through this blend of classical technique and contemporary sensibility, Gersten breathes fresh energy into moments from the past—cowboys frozen mid-ride, showgirls long removed from their stages, fleeting smiles preserved on printed ephemera. His work celebrates life’s small, human pleasures, transforming nostalgia into something tactile, luminous, and alive in the present.

Geoffrey Gersten She's A Match For Anybody., 2026 Oil on custom cut birch panels

54" x 66"

$22,000

Geoffrey Gersten For Your Comfort, 2026 Oil on custom cut birch panel

60" x 44"

$22,000

Geoffrey Gersten Give Me Something Good, 2024 Oil on canvas

SAINT NO

American, b. 1980

Saint No grew up on the beaches of California, but it was his time spent in the desert that left a lasting impression and continues to shape his work. Drawing inspiration from these contrasting landscapes, he presents the American West through both iconic and deeply personal motifs. His art explores influential American myths alongside his own lived experiences, creating a visual language that feels expansive yet intimate.

Saint No’s works are multifaceted, layering text and imagery over scenic backdrops, each piece grounded in a strong sense of place. Cohesion across color and subject matter ties together his practice across multiple mediums, including paintings, clothing, prints, and skateboard decks.

Saint No

I Won't Back Down, 2026

Gesso, graphite, acrylic, colored pencil, marker, and enamel on canvas

60" x 96"

Saint No

Only God Forgives, 2026

Gesso, graphite, acrylic, colored pencil, marker, and enamel on canvas

No

Distortion, 2026

TODD SANDERS

American, b. 1967

Contemporary neon artist Todd Sanders crafts his vintage-style designs using durable modern materials and specialized weathering techniques. Evoking the glory days of roadside America, Sanders’ work resembles old relics rescued from forgotten attractions on abandoned highways. Sanders calls his style modern vintage, but considers himself a pop artist, sharing a rich artistic vein mined by Andy Warhol and other pop-culture iconographers.

A Montgomery, TX native, Sanders began pursuing his muse in earnest after moving to Austin, Sanders’ work is prized by his collectors, including Willie Nelson, Shepard Fairey, Edie Brickell/Paul Simon, Joe Rogan, Johnny Depp, ZZ Top, and Kings of Leon. Sanders’ pieces have appeared in several films, as well as the pages of Esquire, Fortune, Texas Monthly, and Southern Living magazine. The original version of his most popular design, his animated “Fireflies in a Mason Jar,” was created for the wedding of fellow Texan Miranda Lambert to Blake Shelton. Several of his works have hung in the Museum of Neon Art in Los Angeles.

West Chelsea Contemporary is much more than the typical gallery. Offering worldclass art in a dynamic, interactive setting. WCC produces museum-quality exhibitions year-round with programming that is free and open to the public.

West Chelsea Contemporary’s collection includes artists influential to Pop Art, Street Art, Graffiti, Post-Graffiti and contemporary art as well as tastemakers of these movements. With a local, national, and international roster of represented artists, West Chelsea Contemporary situates artwork from the primary market alongside a highly curated selection of pieces from the secondary market. This novel display of represented, emerging and mid-career artists alongside Blue Chip masters increases each artist’s exposure and serves to make connections between their work.

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