Born and raised in Cheyenne, Wyoming and currently based in St. Louis, Missouri, visual artist Chloe West’s work is strongly driven by her Wyoming upbringing. Her figure paintings explore how the body orients itself in space, specifically the Western landscape. Creating images of herself in Wyoming, and with collected objects encountered on hikes in the High Plains, West pays homage to her homeland, which is both beautiful and incredibly harsh.

The work references iterations of the female nude throughout history, and tropes in Flemish and Dutch painting such as memento mori and vanitas paintings, paying specific attention to the politics of looking. West’s paintings seek to acknowledge and confront the gaze while examining the historical tropes of painting and celebrating the craft of the medium.

See more from Chloe West below!