Staff Reports | Happenings & Events
Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West is announcing a partnership with True West Magazine to bring the west’s most well-known and notorious outlaw figuratively back to life in the exhibit, ‘The Resurrection of Billy the Kid,’ which opens Saturday, Oct. 4.
The exhibition, which is part art show, part séance and part showdown, will explore, explode and reimagine the legend of Billy the Kid in a series of electric and eclectic pieces created by three noted artists: Bob Boze Bell, Thom Ross and Buckeye Blake, according to a press release.
For example, Mr. Bell’s high-voltage historical paintings that depict what ‘really’ happened in his short, dramatic life will be on display, along with Ross’ surreal reimagining of the Kid’s life as a fevered frontier dance. The end of the exhibit features a haunting, life-size sculpture of Billy on his death bed by Blake, staged like a wake complete with candles, curtains, and a guest book for mourners.
To accompany the exhibition, Western Spirit will also screen 10 classic ‘Billy the Kid’ movies in its newly-renovated Piper Theater. Titles include Young Guns, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, and Old Henry.
Born Henry McCarty in 1859, Billy the Kid was an American outlaw and gunfighter in the Old West. He died in Fort Sumner, New Mexico on July 14, 1881 at the age of 21 after being shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett.
“Billy the Kid may have died young, but his legend lives on,” said Andrew Patrick Nelson, chief curator at Western Spirit. “This exhibition and film series confront both history and the fantasy of one of the West’s most complex and fascinating outlaws.”
The new exhibit at Western Spirit, found at 3830 N. Marshall Way, runs through Dec. 31 showcasing 20 paintings and two sculptures.
