In his “Frontier Thesis” of 1893 historian Frederick Jackson Turner expounded his view that the spirit of the United States was defined by its exploration of the Frontier. With these historic exploits, Turner believed that a new American citizen had been born, one with a power to tame the wild and who was fundamentally un-European.

Sixty three years later John Wayne’s entrance as Ethan Edwards across a vast prairie in silver screen epic The Searchers further immortalised stereotypes of the American Wild West, already celebrated in popular culture.

These Here United States, Master Piper’s current exhibition of the work of eight emerging British artists, driven both by admiration and curiosity for the ambiguous depiction of the Wild West, probes such nostalgic and romanticized visions.

For photographer Poppy de Villeneuve, the infamous maximum security prison the Louisiana State Penitentiary has formed the point of reference for her exploration of the subject. A searching, intimate portrait of an inmate is exhibited beside View from Death Row, a perfect arable landscape which hints ominously at the futility of hope at the penitentiary whilst creating a “beauty and the beast juxtaposition”.

Combining a pleasing variety of mediums this exhibit chooses the work of two print artists, Zoe Anderson and Helen Ingham, as a satisfying contrast to fine art and photography. Ingham’s posters, Stand by your Mando and Do y’all say ‘Y’all where you come from?’ were inspired by an internship at Hatch Show Print in Tennessee, one of America’s oldest active printing shops. They playfully explore cultural nuances and the language of the south using a 500 year old practice of letter carving.

Lee Maelzer‘s oil on canvas, Fright, has a disquieting effect. As does the work of Greg Rook.  Drawing on the iconography of early settlers, his cowboys’ identities appear informed by their apparent hand to mouth existence, seen in one portrait slaughtering a pig, a further painting of their home portraying it as colourless and perfunctory.

A further contrast of mediums comes with experimental duo Pennicott + Fleming’s revolving still of a roadside. Decorated only by Hero’s Pizza Express and Auto Repair, this is an attempt to portray the “monotonous tranquillity” of the American Wild West, a contradiction which appears to sum up the intentions of this absorbing exhibition.

Image on front page Greg Rook’s Preacher Man (2006).  All images taken from Master Piper’s website.