Show Preview | John Moyers

Los Angeles, CA
Maxwell Alexander Gallery, August 8-22

John Moyers, The Council, oil, 40 x 70.

This story was featured in the August 2020 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art August 2020 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

MEASURING NEARLY 6 feet long and just over 3 feet high, John Moyers’ multifigure Native American scene entitled THE COUNCIL captivates the eye with a little bit of everything art lovers could desire in a painting: mood, color, strong value patterns, evocative lighting, even suspense. “I wanted it to be a serious piece, and that’s why I went with darker values, like they were making a serious decision,” Moyers says of the scene’s pensive assembly, visibly ruminating on a weighty matter. “That painting took a long time,” he adds with a chuckle. “Just drawing it out took forever.”

Moyers’ tour de force is the headlining piece in a small solo show opening on Saturday, August 8, at Maxwell Alexander Gallery in Los Angeles, CA. Frontier-era depictions of American Indians, riders on horseback, and a Mexican cowboy piece all receive the spotlight in the group of six to eight oil paintings on view. “It’s more of an artist’s showcase,” says gallery director Beau Alexander, “where John is hitting on all the different series he paints.”

Moyers lives and works near Pasadena, CA, where he and his wife, artist Terri Kelly Moyers, moved about three years ago from their longtime home in New Mexico. It was the couple’s fine-art vocations that first brought them together four decades ago; they met at a plein-air workshop with Cowboy Artists of America member Robert Lougheed. Painting en plein air became routine practice for Moyers from then on. “Terri and I have painted outdoors and from life for so many years, and you can use that in the studio,” he says. That training has allowed the artist, who also works with models, to rely more upon his creative instincts, and less upon reference images, when painting. “That’s where your personality comes out,” enthuses Moyers. “What makes a work individual to an artist is what he or she puts into it.”

One exceptional aspect that sets the artist’s work apart, says Alexander, is the fact that “John is an expert in Native American weavings and artifacts. So all the blankets, headdresses, and moccasins he paints, he owns himself or has a deep knowledge of.” Moyers’ expertise, in fact, helped set the scene for THE COUNCIL, which portrays members of the Kiowa, a Southern Plains Indian tribe whose colorful period garments reflect their history as avid traders. “They were always trading back and forth with the Taos Indians,” says Moyers, “and they had quite an assortment of material, like Navajo blankets.”

Such knowledge enriches the artist’s work with an authenticity that—combined with his powerfully executed compositions—has earned him a place in prestigious annual exhibitions like the Prix de West Invitational and Masters of the American West. In 2017, he received the coveted Purchase Award at the Eiteljorg Museum’s Quest for the West show. But Moyers isn’t resting on his laurels. “I’m always playing around with different color schemes and designs,” he says. “I just keep painting year after year after year, and hopefully, I’m growing as an artist.” —Kim Agricola

contact information
213.275.1060
www.maxwellalexandergallery.com

John Moyers, Light and Shadow, oil, 30 x 30.

This story was featured in the August 2020 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art August 2020 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

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