Born in 1977, the multi-talented Mark Maggiori has been a graphic designer, draftsman, musician, music video director and vocalist; however, in the space of just a few short years—he painted his first cowboy in 2014—he has risen through the ranks to become one of the most recognized and sought after Western painters working today.

The Frenchman-turned American first became inspired by the American West when he was 15, on a family road trip through the US, he vowed to return. He was trained in drawing at Paris’ Académie Julian and while in art school, Maggiori’s band, Pleymo, secured a record deal; the budding rock star created their album covers and directed their music videos. After the band went on hiatus in 2007, Maggiori continued to direct music videos, while exploring opportunities to helm documentaries and feature films. However, a 2012 trip to Oklahoma City and the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum inspired his future. “It was like I was struck by lightning—the storytelling, the American myth, the lighting, the clothing, everything about the cowboys in those paintings!” he remembers. He left with one laser-focused goal: “This is something I want to do. I realized there was a whole western art scene. I wanted to be part of it.” So, he says, “I took a big step into unknown territory.”

Over the last decade Maggiori has immersed himself in observing the American cowboy and studying classic Western artists, namely Frederic Remington, Maynard Dixon, and members of the Taos Society of Artists.

Wyoming landscapes are rare in Maggiori’s oeuvre, and Wyoming Spring is rarer still for being set against the backdrop of the Tetons. This photo-realistic rendering of a cowboy in the wild reflects Maggiori’s meticulous study—he goes to great lengths to render accurate depictions of cowboys—and imparts a nostalgia for the Old West that can only come from an outside perspective.

Maggiori's work has been featured in such periodicals as Forbes, Art of the West, and Southwest Art. His work has been exhibited in the Briscoe Western Art Museum in San Antonio, the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in Indianapolis, the Autry Museum of the American West, the Maxwell Alexander Gallery in Los Angeles and the Couse-Sharp Historic Site in Taos, New Mexico.