Jim Rey

Artist Biography

After spending 25 years near the San Juan Mountains in Southwestern Colorado, Jim Rey and his wife Sharon recently moved to a small farm in the Sandhills of Nebraska. The fabulous landscapes that surround him and the field studies and action scenes that he gathers on his visits to local ranches, provide Jim with all the inspiration he could ever need for his documentation of the living American West in art, prints and posters. In addition, Jim often travels to wild horse habitats to study, photograph, and paint America's wild mustangs.

No one captures the spirit of the wild horse like Jim Rey. With his world as a backdrop, Jim mixes his ranch work experience, years of historical research and creates beautiful, authentic art, prints and posters. Rey graduated from the "old school” of painting; "I read a lot on my own, went through every art book I could get my hands on, and learned to paint by painting.”

Before he established a reputation as a western artist, Jim completed many commissioned works. He did 51 paintings for the Encyclopedia Britannica, illustrating the history of the Buffalo in the American West. He was the Graphic Arts Director for Bilingual Children's Television, Inc., Graphic Arts Director for "Over Easy” starring Hugh Downs and Phyllis Diller and was the Art Director for the Emmy Awards in 1973, 1974, and 1976. Jim's art, prints and posters are authentic and real, and they come to life as you look at them. He puts his subjects into real situations so the viewer can watch them react. "I strive to take a thought and bring in my way of looking at things to situations I care about.”

Jim Rey Art, Prints and Posters Collection