Lonesome Cowboy I & II explore the queer cultural resonance of cowboy imagery, examining longing, desire, and the tension between public and private identity. The works evoke the historical “lonesome cowboy” archetype and queer reinterpretations of Western culture, including nods to Andy Warhol’s Lonesome Cowboys. They reflect how queer people historically had to hide their true selves from the public, a lonesomeness rooted in societal constraints rather than personal relationships. This tension mirrors contemporary digital life, where online personas are flattened, partial reflections of who we are. The paintings also explore the adoption and desire for masculine cowboy aesthetics within queer culture, including the clone archetype, revealing how ideals of masculinity are both celebrated and performed. By referencing Hollywood icons such as Montgomery Clift, Sal Mineo, Tab Hunter, and Rock Hudson, the works honor those who navigated secrecy and desire and remind us of the importance of acknowledging this history today, especially as queer rights face ongoing threats.

Montgomery Clift’s role in Red River (1948) embodies the lonesome cowboy in a subtly queer-coded moment, most famously when his character, Matt Garth, and John Ireland’s Cherry Valance compare and handle their guns, a gesture interpreted as homoerotic. Clift worked under the Hayes Code (1934-1968), which censored depictions of queer desire and forced many actors to hide aspects of themselves from Hollywood. In the paintings, lonesome does not refer to a lack of friends or partners but to the solitude of being unable to express his true self publicly, a tension echoed in contemporary negotiations of identity and desire through curated online personas.

Other Hollywood icons similarly embodied the lonesome cowboy while navigation constrained queer identities. Sal Mineo, whose bisexuality complicated his career and whose untimely death remains a point of historical scrutiny, exemplifies the vulnerability of queer actors in Hollywood. Tab Hunter, a widely celebrated star and closeted actor, balanced fame with the expectations of a hyper-masculine studio system. Rock Hudson, another heartthrob, maintained a closeted life while starring in Westerns and romantic leads. These figures reveal the layered realities being Hollywood’s masculine cowboy ideal, desirable, celebrated, and yet inherently lonesome.