Psycho Spaghetti Westerns

“…we’re living out here in the West, and we’re all psycho” - Ed Ruscha

Ed Ruscha, Psycho Spaghetti Western #6, 2010; acrylic on canvas

Lavar Munroe

These pieces are so hauntingly beautiful and I am inspired by Munroe’s desire to investigate the origins of these stereotypes. Per his Wiki, this here is a piece from his series (Zoo at the Edge of the World: A Continuum of the Exotic (2014-16))

“explore[s] his ongoing interest in the phenomena of the ‘human zoo’ in place during colonial times, and its impact on the politics of representation in the present. Munroe equates these works to his entry into the American school system at age 21, where words such as exotic, islander and native became the norm when many Americans referred to him. These words were usually followed by bizarre questions regarding the way of life on the ‘islands’, which usually pointed to ideals that referenced behaviors of the savage. Though Munroe realized that the questions were more than likely said out of naivety and innocence, he began the task of trying to figure out the origins of such stereotypes in order to question certain prejudices associated with non-Western civilizations today.”