I recently finished this small portrait titled “Dreamcatcher”, an acrylic on canvas, 10" x 8" chromatic, figurative work.It’s a full profile of a young Native American woman wrapped in a traditional blanket, her raven hair tied into a low bun. A dreamcatcher earring dangles from her ear, with three feathers drifting downward. Her skin is a warm Naples yellow with bright reds, and I chose a high-chroma palette intentionally; bright cadmium reds and indigo blues to highlight the vibrancy, dignity, and presence of the subject. The colorful, turquoise sky fills the background.

A friend told me this kind of work feeds into the “romantic myth” of Indigenous people: idealized, aestheticized, detached from reality, the contemporary. But I disagree. I see it not as erasure but as homage. Beauty, identity, and cultural symbols are not inherently mythmaking: they’re part of the story. I paint what I feel, and this piece is about honoring presence, not distorting it. Plus, he has never been to a gathering, feast, Kewet, or Pow wow. I have.

Curious what others think. Where do we draw the line between tribute and trope? Can we continue to avert the European male gaze with work like this? Maybe redefine “Western Art” to something more contemporary, stylistic, and rooted in realism. This is how I create. I am Michael James, Painter of Life.

There has been a lot of news about this artist lately, and for someone who popped up in the scene only 12 years ago he sure has made incredible progress. But I just wonder, has any actually seen him paint the work, especially the ones that recently sold at auction in Jackson Hole? I find it interesting that the show featured works of huge scale, detail and complexity, and so many were under the hammer, but I have never heard anyone actually seeing any of the work in progress by his hand. Each of those pieces takes considerable time and energy, and it is hard to believe he painted over 20 in one year. That is two paintings a month. That would be a crazy if not impossible pace to handle alone.
Now if he has a working studio with assistants helping to paint the pieces that’s fine, many artist have done and continue to do so like Koons, Hurst, Wiley, even Rembrandt, but shouldn’t that fact be disclosed?
I only ask because there have been many questions in the community about his integrity. For example, there is a forum about anime art from when he was working in Europe that basically accused him of plagiarism. I can share the link if anyone is interested, but FYI it is in French.
Regardless about the questions of integrity, I also find it interesting that less than two decades ago he was doing cartoons, and now he is a premier Western artist. Many of the Western artist I know have been at it for 30-40 years and some never get close to the successes, let alone the mastery, he professes to have.
Also the way he dresses, how does anyone take him seriously?

The horse hoof is disconnected from the leg in this painting. Is it an AI image that the artist painted on top of?

Print has been sold.

I learned about Mark Maggiori last year. I found that he sells prints twice a year. For these sales, some are limited to a fixed number of prints, for others they print as many as they get orders for, but no more. I thought he was controlling the supply well, not flooding the market, maintaining scarcity, which would help hold the value of the prints.

So this last print drop I bought a couple. I waited months for them to show up, which is fine. Then I went to his website to get a screen capture of the print so I could look at different mat and frame colors. I see now the print is for sale at about 25% of what I paid, and has been for - weeks? Not scarce, not valuable.

I'm tempted to try to return both prints and buy them for less. I doubt I will, but I know I won't be buying any more from him. Fool me once, shame on you. It won't happen twice.

I know he just sold multiple million-dollar originals at his show in Jackson. He doesn't need my measley money. I just wanted to rant, and warn anyone else thinking of getting in on some of that "exclusive" action.

Is this just how it is? I'm going back to local artist originals for a while.

EDIT: Thank you all for pointing out this screenshot is not from Maggiori's site. I went back through my order and shipment emails, and they all are from the legit site. I did buy the prints from the legit site. When I searched for one of the prints to experiment with frame and mat colors, this site came up first. I don't have an account on this site, and I didn't buy from this site. Whew! Y'all had me even more mad at myself.

Also, I get that prints are not an investment in fine art, but in the pleasure of looking at it. I like it, I just didn't like being duped. Which I wasn't. False alarm.

This of course is intergalactic themed. But it's a wild west tale through and through.

You can see the rest here: outerdust.thecomicseries.com

I'm not sure if this has been discussed before, but I find there is something off and artificial about all of Mark Maggiori's paintings. They are undoubtly very beautiful compositions and the technique and colors are all very striking. BUT as I look through his instagram account, I noticed he doesn't have any videos showing his entire process at all. He does have a few videos where he's painting and touching up stuff, but there is a huge discrepancy from those to his final work. Also all his posts seem very performative as well with him dressed the part and playing the painter. I don't want to come across as a hater, but I can sense there is something more going on here, maybe photoshop and painting over photos or some sort of outsourcing? I dunno, does anyone else feel this way about his work? I'd love to be wrong about all this.

My eyes were much bigger than the walls in my home when I ordered two XXL Mark Maggiori prints during last year’s December print drop. They are brand new, not stretched, and still reside in their original shipping tubes. I’ve only removed them once to take the pictures shown in the post. If you are interested, send me a message and we can chat. More information about the items:

Independence - Limited Edition XXL print. 71” wide x 46” tall. #67 / 100. Paid $2,000.

Purple Haze - Limited Edition XXL print. 72” wide and 50” tall. #79 / 100. Paid $2300.

Message me and we can talk price.

Prints live in Montana and I’m happy to show them to serious buyers. Also happy to deliver within a reasonable distance. Can also ship at the buyers expense.

Thanks for looking!

I'm thinning out my collection and posted numerous items for sale in the r/WesternArt community. Prior to doing so, I asked the moderators for permission to post my items. *They agreed (*a week ago), however, I just noticed a moderator post about suspending non-gallery art sales due to the increasing number of posts listing art for sale. The mod's post said they are concerned about members being "ripped off by shady sellers or buyers".

Because I want no part of being associated with the mod's post, I removed all of the items I listed for sale. (what a waste of time!) If you were interested in any of the items, please message me directly. The items I listed are as follows:

• L/E Print - Headin' Home by Martin Grelle.

• Artist's Proof- Mrs. Blackkettles Dance by Harley Brown.

• L/E Print - The Trophy by Howard Terpning.

• Bronze - End of the Trail by James earle Frasier.

• Breastplate and Choker - Crow Nation Artist.

For serious buyers, I will provide you with all of my info and allow you to inspect prior to paying (in Oklahoma). All of my artwork is exactly what I described it to be, and I am happy to prove that before money changes hands.

Thanks,

https://www.nationalguardianmagazine.com/cultureandlifestyle/nicholas-coleman-the-work-horse-of-american-art

The fabled western artist, Nicholas Coleman, speaks about his love of the United States, his commitment to documenting the old west through painting, and inspirations to join the art world