Five gun fighters set off into the night — weapons drawn, grim-
faced, deadly. The men are elongated, stylized, dressed in brightly painted denim and dusters, which stand out against a star-filled sky.

“They Went Looking for Stillwell ... And Found Him” by Thom Ross isn’t a traditional cowboy painting — it’s contemporary Western, where the subject matter is historical, but the painting technique is not.
“He interprets it in a modern style,” says Betty Wilde, co-owner of the Wilde Meyer Gallery in Scottsdale. “But it’s still historically correct and researched. I think that’s what makes him so fascinating.”

Wilde will display Ross’ work in her gallery from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday when the 15th annual Western Art Weekend kicks off with a cowboy-themed ArtWalk in downtown Scottsdale.
“It’s always fun to do cowboy artwork,” Wilde says.

Each year, Wilde Meyer participates in the annual event, displaying pieces that put a contemporary twist on a traditional genre.

“For us, it’s just fun to have a Western thing,” Wilde says.
With several different theme artwalks being offered throughout the fall and spring — including two new ones, a Nov. 11 Blue Night ArtWalk and a Jan. 6 Rock ’N Roll Arizona Marathon ArtWalk — contemporary galleries like Wilde’s don’t rely on the Western ArtWalk for their success.
“If we didn’t have our Western show,” Wilde says, “we would just have a different show.”

But for downtown Scottsdale galleries that mostly sell traditional Western art, such as Trailside Gallery, the annual event is crucial, drawing collectors from around the world to downtown Scottsdale and to Phoenix Art Museum’s annual Cowboy Artists of America Exhibition and Sale.

“This particular weekend, most collectors are interested in horses, cowboys, Indians — that sort of thing — anything with that very heavy-duty Western appeal,” says Joan Griffith, Trailside Gallery director, who adds that people’s passion for Western art is still strong.
“The West lives on,” she says.
What’s disappearing, though, is Trailside’s traditional collecting base.

“I think we’re going through a cycle right now,” Griffith says. “Many of the collectors that have worked with us are in their 60s, 70s — retiring age. They’re not buying anymore.”

Trailside is working hard to cultivate and educate a new generation of buyers, but many of the younger collectors are gravitating toward contemporary art, Griffith says.

A lot of it, she says, has to do with the types of houses being built in the Valley.
“People are building these very Tuscan homes and Western art is not necessarily going to work with those homes,” Griffith says, “so you have to find this other aspect of the collectors.”

At Trailside, that has meant adding impressionist paintings, landscapes and wildlife art to their collection to appeal to a broader audience.
But despite the recent slump in popularity, Griffith says there’s still great interest in Western art.

“I still think that people — especially people that are coming from the East Coast and parts of the Midwest — continue to have this love affair with the West,” Griffith says.

Wilde agrees. Even though they might not want a whole house full of it, Wilde says her clients are interested in adding Western art to their collections.

“Especially when they move out here,’’ she says. ‘‘Their first thought is, ‘I don’t want any of this Western stuff. I’m going to bring my New England things.’

‘‘And then they get out here and they see the light and the air and it changes you. They think, ‘Maybe I should buy something Western ... like a beautiful desert landscape.’ We all appreciate the West, I think.”