Western Art Collector Previews Summer Small Works Exhibition

All in the Scale

This summer, Maxwell Alexander Gallery will mount a small works show featuring a number of its gallery artists. The show will have no particular theme, other than size, so the style and subject matter represented is far-reaching. Artists will include both contemporary and Western, and some who blur the gap. Among them are Teresa Elliot, Danny Galieote, David Grossmann, Matt Smith and Kim Wiggins. Over the past 30 years, much of Wiggin’s work has been focused on symbolism and his painting A Song in the Garden of Taos fits that bill. The work, which is part of his Voices Series, “centers on the isolated surroundings of Taos, New Mexico,” he explains. “By the end of the 19th century, American artists were searching desperately for a place and a subject that would set their work apart from the European school of art. The remote village of Taos soon emerged as the purest symbol of unblemished America…as if a fabled American Garden of Eden.

 In Autumn Cottonwood and River View, Grossmann depicts one of his favorite cottonwoods. “It grows on the banks of the Colorado River in an open space that is filled with the sound of water and rustling leaves,” he says. “I especially love going there to paint this tree in the autumn when its leaves are radiant, caught in the breeze, and spreading the air with gold.”

 Another landscape painting in the show is Smith’s Peralta Cliffs, which was inspired by an area the artist has painted and hiked for 35 year. “The day I set out to paint this piece, my goal was to focus on the cliffs,” says Smith. “Everything changed when I came across the dramatic, cast shadow on the arm of this lone saguaro. The cliffs were still present, but the plant ruled.”

Galieote has a love of old Hollywood cinema including vintage Westerns. It came about from his family having horses and a clothing store on Hollywood Boulevard in the 1940s through the 1960s. “Even though I wasn’t around to visit the store, I have my grandfather’s home movies. All the old film footage and his stories combined together to create this natural attraction and understanding of this era,” he shares. “I’ve always liked to glean stylistically from this period’s artistic design sensibilities as well as use them as my vessel to address timeless sociocultural themes in my work. In this case, my narrative revolves around this tough, independent cowgirl passing through for an afternoon libation.”

To view the work in the exhibition, click here.

American Art Collector Magazine Previews Summer Small Works Show

Size Matters

This July 13 to 27, Maxwell Alexander Gallery in Los Angeles will present a small works group exhibition featuring artists working in both the contemporary and Western styles. Among those with works in the show are Kim Cogan, Danny Galieote, Michael Klein, Jeffrey T. Larson, Serge Marshennikov and Jacob A. Pfeiffer. The artist’s pieces measure smaller than 20 inches in size and are done in a variety of styles and subject matter to allow collectors and array of paintings to choose from.

Marshennikov’s 16-inch square piece Waves, features a woman lying atop folded fabric that is reminiscent of clothing items in Old Masters works. The artist explains, “I was inspired by the intriguing ‘Rembrandtesque’ collars of the 17th century whereas on a dish the given head was complemented expressiveness of the fabric represented ‘in a profile.”

Both Pfeiffer and Larson present still lifes with nontraditional imagery. Pfeiffer’s works are often tongue-in-cheek, while Larson’s pieces elevate unremarkable subjects to objects of beauty.

“I love incorporating visual puns and unusual juxtapositions in my work,” says Pfeiffer. “In my painting Bulbous, I am playing with pears and a light bulb. Both objects are similarly shaped and perfectly described by the title, and yet they are completely different.”

Larson’s painting A la carte depicts a whole fish in a takeout container. Explaining the inspiration behind the work, he says, “I live on the largest body of water (by surface area) in the world, Lake Superior. The herring is part of the bounty that this inland sea produces. On a practical level, the paper carton presents the smoked fish as a food offering the way we are accustomed to perceiving it. More importantly, I felt it created the perfect foil of whites to set of the beautiful metallic gold’s of the herring.”

To view works in the exhibition, click here.

Western Art Collector Magazine Interviews Danny Galieote on upcoming exhibition

Modern Americana

With his statuesque, Pop Art figures, Danny Galieote creates paintings that feel timeless. At Maxwell Alexander Gallery in Los Angeles, he will show his works in a solo exhibition that takes place November 3 through 25.

Afternoon Pastoral is a farm panorama that exemplifies the American Dream, showing men and women working the land to put food on the table for their families. “It’s a cinematic film pan across the farm,” explains Galieote. “It’s only 43 inches, but I can imagine it being 43 feet, as a grand landscape with those sculpturesque figures.”

Galieote is inspired by the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s. “My mom’s dad was in the Navy during those times and traveled the world. He would tell me those stories when I was a kid, so I feel like I sort of grew up in that era.”

The artwork of the time was incredibly touched by the Works Progress Administration, which commissioned artists to complete thousands of murals. “Murals read well from a distance when they are well designed, and they have a sense of flow and fluidity. That’s really what I’m going for,” the artist says.

Featuring a crowing rooster, Country Morning harkens back to a simpler time. Galieote grew up in Los Angeles, but on a small farm with horses and chickens. “Every morning at 5 o’clock I’d wake up to Mean Joe,” he laughs. “Even though I was living in contemporary, modern LA, my childhood had a really traditional Americana feel.”

Western Art Collector Previews Cumulus Show

Sky Sonnets

Maxwell Alexander Gallery is hosting a group exhibition titled Cumulus starting March 9 and continuing through the month. The show highlights cloud- centric works featuring brand new paintings by Tony Abeyta, Eric Bowman, Scott Burdick, Glenn Dean, Phil Epp, Danny Galieote, Logan Maxwell Hagege, Bryan Haynes, Brett Allen Johnson, Michael Klein, Ed Mell, Eric Merrell, John Moyers, Terri Kelly Moyers, Dennis Ziemienski and others.

Bowman’s submission, Levels and Degrees, was inspired by the artist’s recent work done on a trip to southern Utah. “The monumental land formations there are really amazing in both size and shape, and support the focal subject and vertical design of the large clouds in this composition,” says Bowman. “They give it more of an overall large-scale, heroic feel. I also wanted to show the juxtaposition of land masses that are eons old, surrounded by vaporous entities that were just born that very morning.” Using textured layers of paint to forge out a depth and sense of scale, Bowman distills the sensation of wonder and awe when surrounded by such grand natural scenes. “I like to idealize the flow of the line, and clouds that allow just that. They come in all shapes and sizes, so I was able to not only create the scale and shape I wanted, but also build texture upon texture by allowing drying time in between painting sessions.”

Inspiration for Ziemienski’s piece Regarding the Trail came while exploring the majestic red rocks of northern Arizona and New Mexico. “What I found to be most exciting was the mysterious light and shadow of the rocks inspiring a balance with the dramatic upheaval of the clouds—a world where you can lose yourself,” the artist says. Evoking an almost surreal sense of place, the painting’s small subjects stroll beneath a massive cloud, which looms over the canyons with an opposing, yet awe-inspiring, presence

Tranquil and serene, Epp’s Hilltop Trio captures a restful moment between a small team of wild horses as they gaze at a distant horizon. “I have the privilege of living near large ranches that house large groups of horses,” says Epp. “Horses on a hilltop with a big sky backdrop is something that I personally observe on a weekly basis. I’m always inspired by the view and the painting subject.” Epp’s passion for sprawling sky scenes is particularly apparent in this recent work, with bright, vivid blues and buoyant whites dominating the landscape. “This painting is more about western scale, open space and distance than it is about horses,” he explains.

Burdick’s Grandma’s Clouds tells the story of a girl and her family from Shawnee, Oklahoma. Last year, the artist visited his painting’s subject, Serena, at her grandmother’s house to do a series of drawings of her and her relatives. Serena, who is half Choctaw and half Ponca, offered the opportunity to capture this scene. “In between drawing sessions, we would go outside on the ranch and take photographs, which are what I did this painting from when I got home to my North Carolina studio after the show.” From his references, Burdick set out to build a sense of communion between land and sky. “For this painting, I wanted to create a dynamic composition where Serena was an integrated part of the landscape and the clouds. My hope was that the varied angles in the grasses, plus the thick application of paint, would create a sense of movement in the scene. I wanted the abstract chaos of the grass to act as counterpoint to the refined painting of Serena’s face and the soft serenity of the sky. The fact that she was looking into the distance beyond the frame of the canvas hopefully creates a bit of mystery for the viewer to wonder about.”

The Cumulus group exhibition will open March 9 at Maxwell Alexander Gallery in Los Angeles, California.

 For more work from Cumulus, click here.

Southwest Art Previews Cumulus Show

Los Angeles, CA

Maxwell Alexander Gallery, March 10-31

Dennis Ziemienski, Summer Thunderhead, Monument Valley, oil, 20 x 30.

We probably take them for granted more often than we should. This month, however, clouds receive a well-deserved tribute at Maxwell Alexander Gallery, where 12 leading western artists portray these billowing beauties of the sky in more than a dozen new paintings of the American West. Fittingly titled Cumulus, the exhibition opens on Saturday, March 10.

Devotees of historic western art might presume the show is a commemorative nod to early western landscape painters like Maynard Dixon (1875-1946), who frequently depicted massive, showstopping cloudscapes over low-lying horizons. But gallery owner Beau Alexander is quick to note that, while this group of contemporary painters may be influenced by such artists, it’s not the focus of the exhibition. “We’re really trying to look forward,” he says. “These artists are cutting their own path and doing something a little different.”

Among those portraying clouds in a new light are Eric Bowman, Scott Burdick, Phil Epp, Danny Galieote, and Michael Klein. The artists were invited to interpret the theme in any way—and any size—they saw fit, notes Alexander. The result is a diverse collection of cloud-infused scenes that range in tenor from whimsical to contemplative.

Bowman, a western native, has given the theme plenty of thought himself. “Clouds are such enigmatic elements in our landscape’s skies, constantly moving and shape-shifting, especially here in the West where they’ve helped define wide-open spaces like Montana’s Big Sky Country,” he says.

Clouds typically play a “backup role” in his landscape paintings, says the Oregon artist, but in his major work for the show, titled "Levels and Degrees" they take center stage. “I wanted to create some cloud iconography using various levels of depth, large-mass shapes, and temperature shifts to convey a larger-than-life impact,” he explains. Bowman strategically set his cloudscape over southern Utah’s ancient bluffs and canyons, both to support the composition’s vertical design and to create a “large-scale, heroic feel,” he says. “As a design feature, clouds can theoretically be shaped into any configuration imaginable, and in this case, hopefully they inspire our imagination about how large and legendary the West really is.”

Landscape artist Phil Epp has been painting clouds for years, and like Bowman, he thrills in their potentially endless configurations. In his cloud-dominant painting "Hilltop Trio", Epp portrays a triad of horses in the Kansas hills near his home. They are dwarfed, however, by a cobalt-blue sky with plump, unfurling clouds that fill nearly 80 percent of the picture plane. “In my imagery, it’s basically earth and sky, and clouds become the characters of the scene,” says Epp. “I don’t intend for them to be realistic. I make an effort to show vastness, space, and emptiness. Out West, you’ve got the ground ahead of you and the sky above you, and that’s about as basic and primal as it gets.”

If anyone can inspire us to glance skyward with a deeper appreciation for clouds, surely this group of artists can. “We all know what clouds look like,” notes Alexander, “but it’s not until master artists share their vision that our own vision opens up.” —Kim Agricola

To view the Cumulus exhibition, click here.