The real estate developer Harry Culver developed Culver City, California in 1913. It was incorporated in 1917. Culver declared “All roads lead to Culver City” and soon, ”Rome on the Pacific” became “The Heart of Screenland,” the home of MGM Studios … — The real estate developer Harry Culver developed Culver City, California in 1913. It was incorporated in 1917. Culver declared “All roads lead to Culver City” and soon, ”Rome on the Pacific” became “The Heart of Screenland,” the home of MGM Studios and Hal Roach Studios in the 1920s and ’30s. The Chamber of Commerce grated that the city didn’t get the proper credit in the films that were made there and adopted the slogan “Culver City, Where Hollywood Movies are Made.” Today Culver City is still an important hub for film and television as well as a mecca for contemporary art.
What better place for Bill Schenck—Western movie buff, painter, collector and horseman—to have his first Southern California exhibition in nearly two decades? As Beau Alexander of Maxwell Alexander Gallery says, “Bill eats, drinks and sleeps the lifestyle depicted in his work.” Schenck’s studio at The Double Standard Ranch near Santa Fe, New Mexico, is across the lawn from his home, which contains a museum-quality collection of prehistoric Native American pottery and premodern paintings from the Taos Society of Artists. Just down the path, ranch sorting events take place monthly from April to October when riders on horseback sort cattle from the herd and drive them into a pen.
Schenck is spending less time on horseback and more time in his studio where he produces his colorful scenes of the West often based on stills from his beloved Westerns. He often begins with movie stills that he breaks down into their graphic, compositional elements, then builds them up with color. The areas of flat, often brilliant and exaggerated color abut each other and are not blended. He calls this graphic quality his “Paint-by-Number System.”
His vitality is inescapable and, from time to time, his humor bubbles to the surface as in Danny & Geoff, a paradoxical reminder of the absurdity of the bad old days when the cowboys were always portrayed as the good guys and the Indians as the bad guys.
Schenck’s love of the West—its landscape, its people and its animals—is inescapable and infectious.
The Gallery Says . . .
“This show marks Schenck’s big return to exhibiting in L.A. It has been a couple of decades since his last major show in Southern California. Schenck is one of the rare artists who crosses over to such a large audience, from contemporary art collectors to traditional Western art collectors.” —Beau Alexander, director, Maxwell Alexander Gallery

Western Art Collector Magazine reviews Bill Schenck’s solo exhibition “Western Dialogue”

April 25, 2013

Now on view at the Maxwell Alexander Gallery in California is Landscapes of the American West, a showcase of paintings by artist Glenn Dean (b. 1976).  Dean, a native Californian, is primarily a self-taught painter who, at an early age, us… — Now on view at the Maxwell Alexander Gallery in California is **Landscapes of the American West,** a showcase of paintings by artist Glenn Dean (b. 1976). Dean, a native Californian, is primarily a self-taught painter who, at an early age, used his emulation of the California Impressionists to inform and guide his personal development as an artist. His paintings, which he creates on location throughout the southwest (his larger paintings are completed in the studio from sketches made *en plein air*), have already earned this young man much recognition, including both the Grand Prize and the Artists Choice awards at the inaugural Tucson/Sonoran Desert Museum Plein Air Invitational. For Dean, painting the landscape is spiritual; he believes Nature is a divine gift, and it should be the goal of every landscape painter to use their talent to honor The Creator through their work.
**Glenn Dean: Landscapes of the American West** features 37 works (34 paintings, and 3 charcoal drawings), displayed in custom-made Arts & Crafts style frames. The show has been well-received, and sales have been strong. It will remain on view until May 4th.
The Maxwell Alexander Gallery is located at 6144 Washington Boulevard, in Culver City, California. For more information on the show, and to see all of the paintings in the show, please visit the gallery’swebsite, or contact the sales manager, Beau Alexander, at 310.839.9242.

Underpaintings Blog covers Glenn Dean’s solo exhibition “Landscapes of the American West”

April 16, 2013

Glenn Dean “Landscapes of the American West” video preview

April 12, 2013

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Underpaintings Blog Reviews “Landscapes of the American West” by Glenn Dean

April 10, 2013

In Glenn Dean’s second solo show with Maxwell Alexander Gallery, the young Californian expands upon his repertoire by focussing a large portion of his current work on the figure. Of the more than two dozen pieces in the show “Landscapes of the American West,” more than a third feature peoples of the West – Native Americans, cowboys, and gauchos – interacting with the land that shaped them, as much, if not more than, they had shaped it. It is a departure for the young self-taught artist, but one that is a welcome addition to his award-winning landscapes: not only does it show that Dean does not suffer the shortcomings of the early American landscape painters of the East who could paint beautiful landscapes, but could not convincingly populate them, it shows that he is an artist who is willing to challenge himself (and succeed) – a sure sign of staying power in the art world.

“Landscapes of the American West” is currently on view at the Maxwell Alexander Gallery, and will run through the 17th of May. More information on the show can be found on the gallery’s website, or by contacting the gallery directly at 310.839.9242. Maxwell Alexander Gallery is located at 6144 West Washington Boulevard in Culver City, California, and is open daily, Wednesday through Saturday, 12:00 to 6:00 PM.

Fine Art Connoisseur reviews Glenn Dean’s Solo Show at Maxwell Alexander Gallery

April 10, 2013

First Figurative Paintings for Western Artist Glenn Dean

Jeffrey Carlson Reporting

Editor, Fine Art Today

Widely respected for his landscapes depicting the American West, Glenn Dean forays into the figurative world with his most recent body of work.Glenn Dean is displaying new works in his second solo show with Maxwell Alexander Gallery, on view through May 17. “Landscapes of the American West” does, indeed, feature Dean’s signature subject matter, but it also includes a group of figurative paintings that portray cowboys in their terrain.

Dean’s figurative paintings represent a new direction for the artist — one that has already proven successful. The artist’s painting “Descending Cowboy” appeared at the Scottsdale Art Auction earlier this month and doubled its high-end estimate, selling for $25,875, and setting an auction record for the artist in the process. At the time of writing, six of Dean’s paintings in “Landscapes of the American West” that feature figures have already sold.

When situated in the landscape, Dean’s cowboys and their mounts seem a natural continuation of the desert plains that have been the artist’s primary subject. Dean has also painted a number of works where they dominate the composition, leaving the eye nowhere else to go, and demonstrating no tentativeness in his approach to the figure. In these paintings, a loose brush, the sidelong glances of the subjects, and the elusiveness of their features contribute to an attractive, mysterious sense of distance that is a defining characteristic of the Western ethos.

The present exhibition also displays a series of verdant green landscapes and coastal scenes, in which the artist’s economy of means is powerfully present.

Glenn Dean will be featured in the June-July issue of PleinAir magazine. To see more from Dean’s “Landscapes of the American West,” visit MaxwellAlexanderGallery.com.

View the original article here: http://www.fineartconnoisseur.com/pages/18826069.php

Glenn Dean and the Spiritualized Landscape(See the full article here: http://www.fineartconnoisseur.com/pages/15956934.php)Jeffrey Carlson ReportingContributing Editor, Fine Art TodayWhether peaceful scenes of arid deserts or energetic composit… — Glenn Dean and the Spiritualized Landscape
(See the full article here: http://www.fineartconnoisseur.com/pages/15956934.php)
Jeffrey Carlson Reporting
Contributing Editor, Fine Art Today
**Whether peaceful scenes of arid deserts or energetic compositions with waves crashing on the coastline, Glenn Dean’s paintings of the American West capture the beauty and meaning in simplicity.**
The new Maxwell Alexander Gallery in Culver City, California, hosts a solo exhibition of landscapes by native Californian Glenn Dean. The exhibition, titled Glenn Dean: Landscapes of the American West, features 34 small- to medium-scale oil paintings and three intimate charcoal drawings. The artworks are displayed in unique wooden plank frames. Constructed by a Los Angeles furniture manufacturer, the frames serve to honor the arts and crafts movement of the early 1900s.
By their style and subject, Glenn Dean’s landscapes capture the aesthetic value and deep significance of that which is pure, simple, and essential. With his landscapes Dean aims to capture the spirituality with which nature is imbued. In this aspect Dean’s work recalls that of another American landscape artist, the great colorist George Inness. Dean writes of the natural landscape as a divine blessing, and he understands his role as a painter as memorializing that gift and thus giving honor back to the Creator.
Dean’s spiritual landscapes exude calm and sincerity. Brushstrokes are carefully placed and easily visible. Patches of harmonious color comprise these paintings: blues and grays for the skies and sea, reds and greens across the landscape. In Dean’s paintings one finds a profound appreciation for the wonders of nature and a refreshing openness in artistic expression.

Glenn Dean (b. 1976) credits the Early California and Western landscape painters of the early 1900s with helping him to find his own art form, in which he aims to create similarly interesting compositions with a sensitivity to the color of light. Dean’s art has been featured in numerous national magazines, including *Western Art and Architecture*, *Southwest Art*, *Art of the West*, and *American Artist.* He was the recipient of the first ever Emerging Artist Award presented by *Art and Antiques*magazine, and he was the recipient of the Grand Prize and Artists’ Choice awards at the inaugural Tucson/Sonoran Desert Museum Plein Air Invitational.
*Glenn Dean: Landscapes of the American West* debuts April 6, with an opening night reception from 7-10 p.m. The exhibition will run through May 4.
For more information, visit www.maxwellalexandergallery.com or e-mail inquiries to info@maxwellalexandergallery.com.

Glenn Dean’s “Landscapes of the American West” solo exhibition reviewed by Fine Art Connoisseur

April 9, 2013

Glenn Dean’s “Landscapes of the American West” solo exhibition reviewed in Western Art Collector

April 9, 2013

The arts and crafts movement that flourished around the turn of the the 20th century was known for its celebration of the craftsman/artist. Its influence can still be found today.

Glenn Dean has chosen frames that recall arts and crafts design for his show of small works at Maxwell Alexander Gallery in Culver City, California. He admires their “simplicity and the honesty of their construction. When I approach the landscape, I try to simplify what I’m seeing. It’s a similar aesthetic.”

Dean paints in his studio from studies he has painted in the field. Although he has photographs for reference, he finds his studies are more accurate in terms of color and light.

“I’m attracted to different things in the landscape,” he says. “Sometimes it can seem chaotic and disorganized. I try to reduce the noise and look for nice color harmonies and positive and negative shapes playing off each other.”

Dean paints landscapes of the high desert of Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he lived for four years, to the coast of his native California. “I enjoy painting everything in the West from the desert to the mountains to the coast. There’s so much variety in those subjects.”

Tranquil Tide is a subtle coastal scene with soft light. “I try to pick different things in the landscape that provide new ideas and new challenges. The moods that occur along the coast with the moisture in the air and the interesting lighting effects are very poetic. The light in the desert is brighter and harsher, but it’s poetic too.”

Dean looks for the spiritual nature of a scene as well. When the artist captures the essence of a landscape, the painting can communicate at more than a visual level with the viewer. “The artists I’ve studied,” he explains, “have helped me see the landscape differently. I hope my paintings cause the viewer to pause the next time they’re in the landscape and see more of what is there.

In the upcoming group exhibit Still, Life, and Land, Maxwell Alexander Gallery will combine the talents of artists who create works all using a loose realistic style. All of the artists in the exhibit also make works of various subject matter—figure… — In the upcoming group exhibit *Still, Life, and Land*, Maxwell Alexander Gallery will combine the talents of artists who create works all using a loose realistic style. All of the artists in the exhibit also make works of various subject matter—figures to still lifes to landscapes, hence the title of the exhibit. Artists participating include **Sarah Freeman**, **Mark Daniel Nelson**, **Robert Lemler**, **Felicia Forte**, **David Shevlino**, **Eric Pedersen**, and **Joseph Todorovitch**.
Several still lifes will be represented in the show such as Nelson’s painting *Flower #4*, a colorful bouquet against a black background; Freeman’s work *Still Life with Pears* with four pears in a simple color combination of grey, green and white; and Forte’s *Painter’s Tape (Fern)*.
“*Painter’s Tape (Fern)* was first intended as a ‘portrait’ of a treasured object, created out of a desire to discover and share only that which is true and relevant to my own experience,” explains Forte. “The fern was a gift from a beloved sister and is therefore precious to me. I found the moth in my studio one morning after having recently read that moths have no mouths, instead eating their fill as caterpillars to fuel their later search for only love and death! Such romance had to be represented and remembered.”
Life can come in the form of figures such as Pedersen’s portrait titled *Zero Nine Two One One Nine Eight Eight (2)* that is part of a larger in-progress work featuring multiple portraits of the same size but with different colors. Also there is Shevlino’s work *Arms Spread* of a diver making her way toward the water.
Depictions of land are seen through Lemler’s painting *Cress Street*. “The stairs leading down to the beach at Cress Street in Laguna Beach, California, provided a unique perspective of the moment when a surfer enters the water,” says Lemler. “As a design, I have isolated the central subject of the surfer as the singular warm note in a very cool painting, creating a strong center of interest in a soft atmosphere.”
The show will run March 9 to April 2 with a reception on opening night from 7 to 10 p.m.

Still, Life, and Land Group Exhibit Reviewed in American Art Collector

March 14, 2013

Opening tomorrow at the Maxwell Alexander Gallery in Culver City, California, is the new show “Still, Life, and Land,” featuring a diverse set of artworks from some of the gallery’s favorite artists.More than 30 paintings have been curated into… — Opening tomorrow at the Maxwell Alexander Gallery in Culver City, California, is the new show *“Still, Life, and Land,”* featuring a diverse set of artworks from some of the gallery’s favorite artists.
More than 30 paintings have been curated into the show, with contributions coming from such artists as Sarah Freeman, Felicia Forte, Robert Lemler, Mark Daniel Nelson, Eric Pedersen, David Shevlino, and Joseph Todorovitch. Kicking off the show is an opening night gala from 7 – 10 PM on March 9th. For more information about the exhibition (and to see additional images), please contact Beau Alexander at (310) 839-9242, or visit the gallery’s website www.MaxwellAlexanderGallery.com.

Underpaintings Blog Reviews the Still, Life, and Land Group Exhibit

March 14, 2013

Western Art and Architecture mentions the “Drawings and Works on Paper” exhibit

February 13, 2013

Works on Paper at Maxwell Alexander GalleryJeffrey Carlson ReportingContributing Editor, Fine Art TodayMaxwell Alexander Gallery, a new venue for art in Culver City, California, presents its second exhibition: Drawings and Works on Paper. … — Works on Paper at Maxwell Alexander Gallery
Jeffrey Carlson Reporting
Contributing Editor, Fine Art Today
**Maxwell Alexander Gallery, a new venue for art in Culver City, California, presents its second exhibition: *Drawings and Works on Paper*.**
After a busy and successful inaugural show in December, Maxwell Alexander Gallery opened its doors for a second group show on February 9. Several artists represented in the opening exhibition appear again in the second, which features artworks in various media on paper.
The contemporary artists featured in *Drawings and Works on Paper* include Scott Burdick, Damian Chavez, Nicholas Coleman, Glenn Dean, Phil Epp, Logan Maxwell Hagege, Jefferson Hayman, Jeremy Lipking, Susan Lyon, Emil Joseph Robinson, Alexey Steele, Joseph Todorovitch, Leonardo Villasenor, and Vincent Xeus. Historic works by Will Shuster and Maynard Dixon are also included. Exhibited works are available for sale and moderately priced.
While all of the art on display might be included under the category of realism, it is the diversity of the available works that is most striking. *Drawings and Works on Paper* offers a range of styles and sensibilities that, together, purposely presses and confuses the limits of representational art.
Maxwell Alexander Gallery seeks to establish itself as a prominent new art space in California, where local artists working in diverse styles can cooperate to form unique and exciting exhibitions. While the majority of the pieces presented are figural works, even these display varied approaches. Damian Chavez infuses his works with shocks of unexpected color, and in so doing, demonstrates an affinity for painting both pattern and psychology that is reminiscent of Klimt. Logan Maxwell Hagege creates images of Native Americans that are both iconic and sensitive. Alongside enigmatic and evocative prints by Jefferson Hayman are charcoals and pastels by some of the finest figural artists working today, forming an eclectic and intriguing mix.
*Drawings and Works on Paper* opened February 9 and will be on view through March 5.

Maxwell Alexander Gallery is located at 6144 Washington Boulevard, in Culver City, California, 90232. For more information on the exhibition and artwork inquiries, contact the gallery at info@maxwellalexandergallery.com.

Fine Art Connoisseur Reviews Drawings and Works on Paper Exhibit

February 9, 2013

California’s young, and very promising, Maxwell Alexander Gallery will celebrate the art of drawing with an exhibition opening later this week.  This new show Drawing and Works on Paper features approximately two dozen drawings, pastels, a… — California’s young, and very promising, Maxwell Alexander Gallery will celebrate the art of drawing with an exhibition opening later this week. This new show **Drawing and Works on Paper** features approximately two dozen drawings, pastels, and etchings from many of today’s top artists including Scott Burdick, Damian Chavez, Nicholas Coleman, Glenn Dean, Phil Epp, Logan Maxwell Hagege, Jefferson Hayman, Jeremy Lipking, Susan Lyon, Emil Joseph Robinson, Alexey Steele, Joseph Todorovitch, Leonardo Villasenor, and Vincent Xeus. Also included in the show are several historic works by artists Will Shuster and Maynard Dixon.

**Drawing and Works on Paper** opens this Saturday, February 9th, with an artists’ reception from 7:00 to 10:00 PM. All are invited to come out and see these works in person.

The Maxwell Alexander Gallery is located at 6144 Washington Boulevard, in Culver City, California, 90232. For more information about the exhibition, please contact Beau Alexander (310) 839-9242, or visit www.maxwellalexandergallery.com/exhibition/grand-opening/drawings-and-works-on-paper/

View Full Article Here:
http://www.underpaintings.blogspot.com/2013/02/sneak-peek-maxwell-alexander-gallery.html

Underpaintings Blog Reviews the Drawings and Works on Paper Exhibit

February 8, 2013

LA Weekly Newsletter write up on “Drawings and Works on Paper” show

February 7, 2013

The new Culver City, California- based Maxwell Alexander Gallery will follow up its grand opening exhibit with a showing of approximately 25 works on paper ranging from etchings to drawings to pastels. Among the artists participating in the show are… — The new Culver City, California- based Maxwell Alexander Gallery will follow up its grand opening exhibit with a showing of approximately 25 works on paper ranging from etchings to drawings to pastels. Among the artists participating in the show are Scott Burdick, Phil Epp, Jeremy Lipking, Glenn Dean, Logan Maxwell Hagege, and Emil Joseph Robinson. Also available will be historic works by Maynard Dixon, Will Shuster, and others.
Of his charcoal on paper work Tanzanian Market, Burdick explains, “My wife, Susan Lyon, had volunteered in a school the previous year and we went back the next year for a painting trip. We were walking through the market near the town where she’d taught English classes when we heard a little boy shouting ‘Miss Susan, Miss Susan.’ One of the boys that had been in Susan’s class last year ran up and took us over to meet his mother, who had come to the market to sell chickens. The woman in this drawing is one of a large group of women who had traveled to the market to sell their chickens.”
Valley Riders, Dean’s preliminary drawing for a larger painting, will appear in the exhibit. “I’m attracted to the big, simple and sculptural shapes this view has,” he explains of the work. “I try to fill the canvas with one or two big shapes for an effect of heavy mass and scale. This was from a trip to Monument Valley last summer.”
The exhibition opens February 9 with a reception from 7 to 10 p.m. and runs through March 9.

Drawings and Works on Paper Exhibit Reviewed in American Art Collector

January 23, 2013

Western Art Collector Reviews Top Galleries in California

January 23, 2013

Maxwell Alexander Gallery

6144 Washington Boulevard Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 839-9242 www.maxwellalexandergallery.com

Located in Culver City, in the middle of the thriving arts district, Maxwell Alexander Gallery brings a variety of quality Western and contemporary art to the Los Angeles area. With a goal to bring the best Western art to Los Angeles, Maxwell Alexander proudly represents artists such as Glenn Dean, Logan Maxwell Hagege, Jeremy Lipking, and Billy Schenck.

The styles of artwork that can be found in the gallery vary from Dean’s California impressionism to Schenck’s Western pop to Lipking’s naturalistic take on the West to Hagege’s bold interpretations of Western landscapes and the Native peoples of the West.

A group show opening February 9 features 15 artists including Lipking, Dean, Schenck, Hagege, and Phil Epp. An additional solo show featuring Dean’s work is set to open on April 6. Small works, set in craftsman-style frames will highlight “The Desert Southwest,” “The California Landscape,” and “The Seascape.”

On May 11, Schenck’s work, characterized by its unique, Western pop in a “paint-by- numbers” style, will appear. This legendary artist made a splash in the 1970s and ’80s with his bold energetic work, and has recently made a strong return to the contemporary Western art scene with fresh new works.