American photographer Jim Krantz has published his first monograph via Gost Books, Frontier. This body of work blends cinematic portraits of cowboys and expansive landscapes with experimental works to create a visual representation of the mythical American West. Raised in Omaha, Krantz spent his life immersed in the culture of Midwestern America, “a place,” he says, “where survival becomes art and freedom is a way of life.”

Krantz has always been inspired by the Frontier. He sees it as “the boundary between the known and the unknown…Whether in the vast landscapes or the solitary figures of cowboys, I see a metaphor for life itself: navigating the chaos, finding purpose, and embracing the challenge of the unfamiliar.”

Frontier opens with a short series of monochromatic images capturing the movement of a charging bull, horse and rider, reminiscent of Krantz's childhood memories in the stockyards. What follows is a mix of vibrant, abstract portraits and landscapes reworked with light, and a variety of experimental materials that range from resin to wet paint. A versatile artist, Krantz has mastered a unique mixture of materials, perhaps unsurprising due to training under his abstract-artist grandfather. Each layer coalesces, heightening the viewer’s sense of the intensity and movement of the scenes.

Images reminiscent of Krantz’s commercial photographs shot for Marlboro Cigarettes, famously appropriated by Richard Prince, capture cowboys’ and horse herds’ sweeping movements, actively constructing the myth of the American West. The book closes with an emphasis on the man-made: a house in the desert, a bedroom decorated with pictures of horses, a Pepsi sign. Frontier acknowledges the volatile, untamed danger of the land, ending with an emblematic image of a rattlesnake. 

For the first time, Krantz’ book lets audiences into his own, personal universe, outside of his commercial portfolio. The work in this book was created over a 40 year period, where he came to understand the harsh and inevitably disappearing beauty of the American West. The book is available for purchase online now.