Psychedelic scenes of America’s Wild West

While in New York on a project back in autumn 2007, photographer and director Jim Krantz remembers walking past the Guggenheim Museum when he spotted something extraordinary. Up on the banners lining Fifth Avenue, a cowboy in white hat and pink shirt sailed across the Manhattan sky, with the words ​“Richard Prince: Spiritual America” in white block letters. In that moment, two worlds collided. 

As one of the preeminent members of the Pictures Generation, Richard Prince built his name in the early ​’80s appropriating Marlboro advertisements for his Cowboys series, teasing the boundary between high and low art with irrepressible delight. Like Andy Warhol, who believed that ​“art is anything you can get away with”, Prince appropriated rampant commercialism to his own ends. 

“The pictures I went after – ​‘stole’ – were too good to be true,” Prince told the Guggenheim. ​“They were about wishful thinking, public pictures that happen to appear in the advertising sections of mass-market magazines, pictures not associated with an author… It was their look I was interested in. I wanted to re-present the closest thing to the real thing.” 

• Read next: An ode to America’s legendary cowboy culture

Close as Prince would come was none other than Jim Krantz, the mastermind behind the ​’80s and ​’90s Marlboro ads that have become synonymous with the myth of how the West was won. Steeped in the vivid mythos of rugged individualism, the cowboy stands as Manifest Destiny incarnate, casting their fate in the ability to hold their own against the perils of nature. ​“The truth about the West is it is populated by few things, especially the West I’ve been immersed in; it’s cowboys and animals, the symbiotic relationship they have, and the drama of the harsh, unforgiving environment where they live,” says Krantz. 

As a young boy growing up in South Omaha, Nebraska, Krantz remembers sneaking off to the stockyards while visiting his father’s store, to watch local cowboys riding horseback as they processed the cattle. ​“There’s a real grit and tenacity to these jobs,” he says. ​“I’ve been around them long enough to understand the skills it takes to stay at the top of their game. This is what they do on a daily basis. I see the power, and I see the danger.” 

Krantz’s seeing is a knowing and an understanding that pervades the work, making his images iconic in a way few artists ever do. Invariably, it all began with a seed (company, that is) and quickly took root, solidifying Krantz’s place in the industry. He ultimately found parallels between his subjects’ work and his very own. ​“For me, the cowboy is a metaphor for something bigger: it’s an attitude of being independent, bucking up, working hard, getting it done, not making a big deal out of it or needing attention, just living in relationship with nature,” he says. ​“You don’t think of a cowboy having a watch on, because the whole thing is a beautiful balance between when the sun rises and the sun sets.”

• Read next: This is what the real Wild West looks like

Drawing upon the wisdom of his mentor Ansel Adams, who observed that ​“technical proficiency leads to artistic freedom”, Krantz embraces the element of exploration, experimentation, and pushing the boundaries beyond the known with his new monograph, Frontier (GOST Books). The book brings together nearly 100 hypnotic images that unfold with cinematic splendour of a Hollywood Western. ​“My wife and I live under the shadow of the Hollywood sign,” Krantz says, as if on cue. He’s a man who understands the ever-shifting balance of the sublime, and the strange forces of fate that should make his work a watershed moment in the history of art.

“Overlooking the concept and intent of what [Richard Prince] was doing, there’s something about it that’s complimentary; something that’s very disturbing, upsetting, and violating; and something that’s super curious, like how can this actually happen?” Krantz asks. ​“Museums, curators, and galleries glommed onto it and now it’s commonplace. See, I’ve always preferred to create my own work. It’s given me a perspective on being someone you can’t catch, and the freedom to trust myself.” 

Jim Krantz will be signing copies of Frontier with GOST Books at ICP Photobook Fest in New York, early October 2025.

Miss Rosen is a freelance arts and photography writer, follow her on X.

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