Maxwell Alexander Gallery, Online
November 29
The 2024 Black Friday Exhibition hosted by Maxwell Alexander Gallery will be held on November 29. The entire sale will go live online for three hours starting at 9:00 a.m., Pacific Time, concluding promptly at noon. The exhibition will feature over 100 works of art by 54 fine artists including Duke Beardsley, Thomas Blackshear II, G. Russell Case, Glenn Dean, Logan Maxwell Hagege, Hannah Harper, Brett Allen Johnson, Billy Schenck and Dennis Ziemienski.
Edward Minoff, June Greens, oil on linen panel, 6 x 8.
Despite the name’s link to the notorious madness of the beginning of the holiday shopping season on the day after Thanksgiving, the origins of this Black Friday go deeper, as gallery owner Beau Alexander explains: “When we started the gallery, part of our mission was not only to introduce younger people to the art of the American West but also to make collecting original artworks accessible and enjoyable for a new generation. This is our 12th Black Friday Exhibition. The price points of our first Black Fridays were $1,000 and under. Over the years, we’ve bumped that up. This year, the works are priced at $3,000 and under, which gives our most important artists a bit of room to participate.”
Alexander goes on to discuss his approach and the kinds of work potential buyers will find in the exhibition. He says, “It’s not an experimental show. We encourage the artists, even those who don’t typically paint in this price range, to do what they are known for, to paint as they would in their everyday practice.”
David Grossmann, Pine and Aspen Slopes, oil on linen panel, 12 x 7.
A look at four of the pieces that will be featured in this year’s Black Friday Exhibition reveals something of the range of the show. The hidden math of the natural world is revealed in David Grossmann’s 12-by-7-inch oil PINE AND ASPEN SLOPES. A bit of Gustave Baumann’s woodblock aesthetic emerges from the artist’s rich coloration and a bit of Gustav Klimt pops in the way Grossmann patterns the trees and trunks. The curl of a single wave breaking on a beach in Edward Minoff’s 6-by-8-inch oil JUNE GREENS recalls great 19th-century American painters such as Alfred Thompson Bricher and John Frederick Kensett but the translucency of the wave is reminiscent of seascapes by Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran.
George G. Redden, Scouting the Flock, oil, 20 x 24.
The point of view, over the hunter’s shoulder as he looks at the tom turkey he hopes will grace his table, tells us that George G. Redden’s 20-by-24-inch canvas SCOUTING THE FLOCK pays tribute to the grand tradition of 20th-century Western painting and the iconic calendar images, especially the “predicament” paintings produced by luminaries like Philip R. Goodwin, Frank B. Hoffman and E.I. Couse. But Redden’s style is his own, from the impressionistic leaves to the thick black, etching-like lines around the elements in his painting.
Jed Webster Smith, Study for Remembering Who We Were Among the Quakies, graphite on paper.
Myth and truth in the story of the American West—one of the artist’s keen interests—lie just beneath the surface of Jed Webster Smith’s STUDY FOR REMEMBERING WHO WE WERE AMONG THE QUAKIES. While the story might be elusive, the woman’s face, pose and the reverent way she holds her hat suggest the emotions behind the story—remembrance and reverence—while the leaves of the “quakies” tell of the passing year, and the passage of time.
From the seasoned connoisseur to the new collector, the Black Friday Exhibition at the Maxwell Alexander Gallery offers art for all. —James D. Balestrieri
contact information
(213) 275-1060
maxwellalexandergallery.com
This story appeared in the December 2024/January 2025 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Subscribe today to read every issue in its entirety.