Cowboix Hevvven: An Interdimensional Dive Bar Inside Meow Wolf Houston

The iconography of cowboy culture unfolds into vast vistas of possibility and freedom… Plus some pretty excellent boots. Western style and its corresponding hats, spurs, and chaps are experiencing a moment in pop culture: Beyonce released her wildly popular Cowboy Carter album, and artists like Orville Peck have been breathing new life into the classic Western archetype for some years.

Being a lonesome cowboy can come with a lot of heartbreak, and not just the kind when your woman leaves you and your truck dies. It’s the kind of heartbreak of growing up in a culture that you love that doesn’t love you back. Maybe you’re artistic, indoorsy, sensitive, neurodivergent, queer, or just plain strange. Meow Wolf senior artist Cole Bee Wilson understands this push and pull. A fifth generation Texan, he grew up between San Antonio and Bandera TX doing idyllic cowboy things on his grandparents’ cattle ranch: driving trucks, riding horses, and working side by side with his grandpa. He now regularly volunteers on a cattle ranch in the Galisteo Basin outside Santa Fe NM, and still loves everything that comes with the lifestyle, including its culture, and music. I met with him at Citizens of Montrose, a welcoming coffee spot in Houston’s hip, artistic, queer neighborhood, to learn more about the installation. Over breakfast, Wilson told me, “Country music is one of the only types of music where you can be poetic and corny and tragic and funny all at the same time in the span of 2 minutes and thirty seconds.”

The mythos of the honky tonk watering hole is like an oasis in the desert of the soul…and Wilson wants to create one where everyone is welcome. That’s where Cowboix Hevvven, “a liminal, afterlife, purgatory, honky tonk, dive bar for angels, demons, aliens, space/time travelers and various other weirdos of the cowboix variety” comes in (pulled from a concept statement by the artist). Wilson is Lead Artist and Creative Director on this immersive and interactive art installation, which will feature a functioning bar and restaurant in the upcoming Houston Meow Wolf exhibition. 

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Wilson continued in the statement, “Cowboix Hevvven is an inter-dimensional pocket where the divine and profane coexist and fluctuate with ease. Cowboix Hevvven is an ACTUAL FUNCTIONING bar that serves tasty dive bar food and beverages, based on the hole in the wall honky tonk dives and dance halls of Central Texas such as Sam's Town Point, The Longhorn Tavern, Lonesome Rose, and Lola's Depot. Batsy is the owner of this notable pitstop for queer weirdo free ramblin’ rodeo heads of the afterlife and beyond. Each colorful character has a rich, long and sometimes lonesome tale to tell: devilish days of glitz and glamour, and the dizzying heights of honky tonk angels. There’s a seat at the bar for all y’all here in Cowboix Hevvven.”

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“Cowboix” is spelled as such so that anyone can be a cowboix. And everyone, I mean every type of being in every type of existence, is here. The colorful cast of interdimensional angels and demons each have involved backstories revealing trysts, gambling debts, and polycules. Batsy, an ancient and powerful demi-god, has transitioned from being worshiped as one of the most powerful beings in the universe to a relaxed bar owner. Together with her partner, Angel, they've turned a rundown Texas tavern into a lively haven for all manner of beings, making every night an unforgettable celebration for the past 37 years. Recently, they've welcomed Cisco into their joyous companionship. Angel is an ageless, genderless divine being of light, capable of taking many forms, but often appears as a translucent, glowing humanoid. In Cowboix Hevvven, being trans goes beyond gender, but also time and space–a multidimensional spectrum of existence. Angel is a fifth-dimensional entity whose magical pedal steel playing has enchanted audiences since they met Batsy in the seventies, creating a perfect balance of dark and light in their eternal love.

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There are also depression demons that represent the sadness in country music and our own hearts (the character Eloc, a portrait of Wilson’s grief that cries into its beer); old timer Humanoid armadillos, a half Human half Glitzian adjoined entity, a sentient clod of unlucky mud, a literal pool shark that will talk smack about your shoddy pool playing, and a fiery mega country superstar who had everything in the world but walked offstage one day to return to the simplicity of the dive bar.

Most poignantly, there is a rainbow angel that represents the beloved late co-founder of Meow Wolf, Matt King. Wilson was close to King - and like many Meow Wolf artists, he wanted to immortalize his friend in this hauntingly striking statue that radiates with glowing light.

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None of the characters are on one side of a strict binary between good and evil; all of them are somewhere on the spectrum, just figuring things out. Wilson described the scene, “every day is the same Friday night, one stroke ‘til midnight.” It begs the question, even if you’re stuck in an endless party, does it feel like a trap?

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Cowboix Hevvven’s otherworldly qualities are balanced by its real dive bar charms, as it features an interactive pool table, a photo booth, and a jukebox that plays music created by Wilson as well as 30 songs licensed by Texas musicians. It will open with the rest of the Houston exhibition with a full menu, and entry will only be available to those purchasing Meow Wolf tickets. 

The collaborative work of many artists went into this installation, including designers, fabricators, programmers, and more. Other artists who worked on Cowboix Hevvven include Jayla Kuemichel, Max Cohn, Sofia Howard, Caity Kennedy, Karen Lembke, Cat Mills-Flegal, Emilio Pincheira, Elana Schwartz, Wylla Skye, Zach Sawan, Charlotte Thurman, Enoch McPherson, Chris Hilson, and Jess Webb, among many others.

There’s an expected curiosity around Texans’ reception towards this playful exploration of the cowboy archetype. Certainly there will be many folks for whom this welcoming space is sorely needed. Wilson joyfully explained, “For every person, the invitation stands...and we will be there at Cowboix Hevvven to greet you with love and grace.”