Bill Pickett
David Buetsche (Cincinnati, OH)
Mixed Media, Collage & Spray Paint on Canvas,
40 H x 30” W x 1.5” D
Artwork:
“Bill Pickett” is part of my Forgotten Riders series, which focuses on the overlooked legacy of Black cowboys and frontier figures erased from dominant narratives of the American West. Using archival imagery layered beneath paint, collage, and distressed textures, the work explores the tension between visibility and disappearance. Bill Pickett, a pioneering rodeo performer and inventor of bulldogging, became a legendary figure despite systemic barriers and historical exclusion. The fragmented surface reflects the instability of cultural memory and the ways important histories are often buried beneath myth, nationalism, and selective storytelling.
Artist Statement:
My work examines the spaces where history, memory, and mythology begin to break apart. Through layered collage, abrasion, archival imagery, and distressed surfaces, I explore the ways cultural narratives are constructed and selectively preserved. In Forgotten Riders, erased Black cowboy figures emerge through fractured compositions that reflect both visibility and disappearance. The work confronts the mythology of the American West while questioning who is remembered, who is omitted, and how historical identity continues to shape contemporary America.