“They’re just there for your amusement,” artist John Cerney said, “and I think they bring up a lot of questions.”
Questions like, “who put them there?” That would be Cerney. He likes to make big plywood murals and put them up wherever someone will let him. His work includes an alien family looking for a jumpstart near Roswell.
Cerney calls his latest creation “Cowboy Ruckus”. When the idea first came to him one day in California, it was a far cry from two wranglers at war.
“I was actually just driving to go visit my mom and I actually saw two prostitutes that were arguing with one another on one side of the street to the other,” Cerney said. “They were very animated, and it was a compelling scene and it stuck in my head.”
He needed a place to put the work and got in touch with a New Mexico rancher, the same guy who hosted the alien mural. Cerney’s vision of quarreling prostitutes evolved into a conflict among cowboys.
“He asked me if I would mind using his brothers,” Cerney said. “He had twin brothers as the models."
So there they stand, two squabbling siblings. If you really want to know what they’re feuding over, you’ll have to use your imagination.
“I just wanted a simple argument,” Cerney said. “I don't know what they're arguing about.”