Bill Schenck

Bill Schenck was born near Columbus, Ohio, and attended the Columbus College of Art from 1965 to 1967. He first came into contact with pop art when he took a spring break trip to New York in 1966 and joined Andy Warhol’s Factory crowd. After his return to Columbus, Schenck transferred to the Kansas City Art Institute in 1967, finding it a better fit for his unconventional style. He moved to the Soho area in New York City after earning a bachelor of fine arts in 1969 and began making photorealist works with a pop aesthetic using film stills from western b-movies. Schenck gained recognition in the New York art scene with these works, which connect the world of pop art with the myth of the West. After his success in New York began to fade, Schenck moved to Arizona and Wyoming, collecting a wide variety of imagery to use in his work. He spearheaded a “pop western” sub-genre and strives to continually challenge myths and preconceptions about the American West in his work. Schenck lives and works at his home—the Double Standard Ranch—outside Santa Fe, and when he is not painting he competes as a rodeo rider in ranch sorting events under the name Billy Famous.