Vast skies, mountains, cowboys, Native Americans and grand animals...This is almost a steadfast impression in many people' s mind while mentioning the American West.

From September 24 to October 17, a collection of contemporary art of the American West is being on display at the Guangzhou Museum of Fine Arts, a traditional destination inside Yuexiu Mountain.

Curator, Nancy Matthews

Out West: The Great American Landscape, the exhibition is organized by Meridian International Center in Washington, D.C., U.S.-based National Geography and Guangzhou Museum of Fine Arts.

The exhibits include over 60 works by 50 American artists and 40 photography works selected from the National Geography, depicting aspects of the American West. The "landscape" of the Western states, including Montana, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, and Arizona, is interpreted in the broad sense to highlight not only the dramatic physical scenery of the western regions, but also the people and animals who inhabit them and the inspirations for cowboy-and-Indian iconography.

Out West completes a cultural exchange begun with Ancient Threads, Newly Woven, an exhibition focusing on China' s Western Silk Road regions, still on tour in the U.S., which Meridian organized in 2004 in collaboration with the China International Exhibition Agency in Beijing. Meridian is collaborating on the new exhibit with the National Art Museum of China in Beijing

(By Jessie Hwang)