A Welcome Sight on a Weary Road

Photo by Rory McClannahan

New Mexico has miles of roads that are nothing short of a joy to drive. The 96-mile stretch of U.S. 285 between Vaughn and Roswell is not one.

The road is straight, the views are endless with nary a landmark and the wind can be somewhat tortuous. Up until the end of 2016, the only thing of interest along the highway is a rest area at about the half-way mark. You also might be able to catch a herd of antelope grazing on the grass on either side of the highway. The road is so long and boring it sometimes makes a driver wonder if he has gone through a tear in the space-time continuum.

California artist John Cerney – along with the help of rancher Bill Marley – has made the drive a little more interesting. About 22 miles south of Vaughn just over the Lincoln County line Cerney installed two 18-foot tall cowboys on either side of the highway on the Mile High Ranch, owned by Marley’s family. Called “Cowboy Ruckus,” the cowboy on the east side of the road is pointing an accusatory finger across the road at the other cowboy, who is shrugging his shoulders and has his palms outstretched. The photorealistic murals painted on plywood are two-sided meaning travelers heading either north or south can view the art.

“It really is out in the middle of nowhere,” Cerney said. “It’s the perfect location, the more desolate the better. It just really kind of fell into my lap.”

In the short time they have been baffling weary drivers, the cut-out murals have gained some national attention. The web site, roadsideamerica.com has the cowboys prominently featured. It was this website that drew Martin Rodrigues, who was driving from Florida to California, to deviate from an easier route across New Mexico to take photos.

“We’ve been hitting as many of these roadside attractions as we could,” Rodrigues said. “It’s really kind of cool that you are driving this desolate road and you come upon something like this.”

In Vaughn, the murals have been met with welcome arms, although some people said they wished that the murals were located a little closer to town. Others, like Mayor Ramon Garcia, is happy to see anything that puts Vaughn in a positive light.

Vaughn, like many small New Mexico towns, has had a hard time recovering from the 2007 economic recession and changes in American travel habits. Numerous gas stations, restaurants and motels in Vaughn have closed over the past decade and the town has had a hard time keeping up with regular maintenance, such as keeping its roads in shape.

Garcia said he and the town council have been working toward getting more state and federal money to help the town. However, he admits that what really helps the town is when people come there for a reason.

“They are a wonderful thing for the town. Anything that draws visitors here is good,” Garcia said.

Cerney said he wasn’t looking to be an economic driver for any community, but is certainly happy when it happens. His motivation, he said, comes from the art. “Cowboy Ruckus,” for instance, was funded by Cerney. Although he doesn’t have an exact cost on that project, he said most his mural projects cost between $8,000 and $12,000. He normally will do two of the freebies a year and makes up the expenses through commissions.

“It usually works out OK,” he said. “I’ll do these once or twice a year and all I ask is that someone pay my expenses while I’m at a site. What I’m really doing is exploring my art in ways that no one would normally pay me for. I get the best of both worlds.”

The seeds of inspiration for “Cowboy Ruckus” came years ago when Cerney was driving to his mother’s house in southern California. His mother lived in a seedier part of town and on the way Cerney said he saw two prostitutes arguing across the road with each other.

“Their body language was so passionate and broad. It was cool and after a little thought, I knew this would make a good mural with cowboys. Everyone gets into conflicts, I just wanted to represent that with a little humor,” he said.

But to create roadside art?

Cerney said he took the usual artist route when he was starting out by pursuing a degree in art. Not one to be confined to a studio, Cerney wanted a canvas that was huge. At first, he said he would simply ask people if he could paint a mural on their garage or on the side of a building. However, his muse took him in larger direction.

“I would do a garage and then the idea struck me to put something in front of it, like a Corvette. From there, it just kind of took off,” Cerney said.

He’s done numerous pieces using the natural landscape as part of his canvas. Some of his pieces include Amelia Earhart landing her plane in her hometown, a pair of 20-foot farmers checking their crops and a giant baby playing with toy tractors in an open field.

Cerney counts Norman Rockwell’s Americana style as an influence combined with the romanticism of roadside attractions he would see from the back seat on family trips around the country when he was a kid in the 1960s. His murals have a photo realism to them that almost makes you think he is using more modern techniques used on billboards with vinyl stretched over a bracket. However, the murals are all painted on specially treated plywood and mounted on metal brackets.

“They won’t last forever, but they should last up to 20 years or so,” he said.

Cerney first came to New Mexico in 2013 for a project south of Roswell. That project turned out to be a mural of a farm family helping visiting aliens with a jump start for their flying saucer. That project is located on Marley family property and Cerney said he developed a friendship with the rancher. During one of his trips through the state, Cerney had stopped in Roswell on the way home and had dinner with Marley. The artist talked about the idea he had for a project for arguing cowboys, but that he needed a spot where he could use both sides of a road.

“He told me he had 40 miles of property like that,” Cerney said. “His only caveat was that his brothers had to be the models.”

So when it came time to put up the murals, twin brothers Mike and Mark Marley can be seen for miles on their family’s property. Bill Marley said he is happy to have the art work on his family’s land, but that didn’t necessarily make him an art collector.

“I wouldn’t say I’m art aficionado,” Marley said. “I just happen to be friends with an artist and could help him with land. Plus, they are kind of cool.”

As for the cowboys, Cerney said that they were painted with the best weather proof paint, but he knows that eventually the elements will get the best of them.

“I know they won’t last forever and I’ll be interested to see what they look like in 20 years,” he said. “I just want people to be able to see and enjoy my work. Thousands will see this, in a museum only a few hundred may get that opportunity.”

His next project was a large mural of Beatle George Harrison that will be installed in Benton, Illinois. Harrison visited his sister in the town in 1963 before the Beatles became big and the town is wanted to commemorate that visit, Cerney said.

   To get a good look at Cerney’s art, go online to www.johncerneymurals.com.