Show Preview | Galieote & Johnson  

Los Angeles, CA
Maxwell Alexander Gallery, November 3-30

Danny Galieote, Afternoon Pastoral, oil, 15 x 43.

Danny Galieote, Afternoon Pastoral, oil, 15 x 43.

This story was featured in the November 2018 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art November 2018 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

Since moving last year from its original, modestly sized location in Culver City to a 3,500-square-foot space amidst the revitalizing downtown Los Angeles, Maxwell Alexander Gallery has dramatically expanded the offerings it can show from its stable of contemporary realist artists. Case in point: This month, the gallery presents not one but two featured exhibitions—a show in the front gallery of more than a dozen mostly large-scale paintings by Danny Galieote and, in its more intimate south gallery, what director Beau Alexander describes as a solo showcase of about 10 smaller paintings and a few drawings by Brett Allen Johnson.

Born, raised, and still living in Burbank—home to movie industry giants including Disney and Warner Bros.—Galieote brings to his oil paintings an idealized, pop-art vision of the American dream that reflects his 12-year career in animation. At Disney he worked on such modern classics as The Lion King, Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Tarzan. Add to that the stirring stories he heard of forging a life in a new land from his Italian-immigrant grandparents, and it becomes easy to understand why he feels driven to “portray the American dream in an idealized way” in work he describes as “a contemporary homage to regionalist painters like Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood.”

Like those 20th-century masters, Galieote brings a strong element of storytelling to paintings including the wildly energetic BRONC MOON and AFTERNOON PASTORAL, a wide-screen scene of epic proportions. “All good films have layers of meaning, and that’s one thing I try to get into my work, leaving an open-ended storyline for the viewer,” he adds.

Utah-based Johnson, who’s been painting professionally now for just two years following 15 years as a carpenter, aims “to find a balance between observation and invention” in his paintings of the Southwest’s vast landscapes. NEVADA HILLS, for example, found its inspiration during a recent journey he took to trace the Depression-era travels of painter Maynard Dixon across the desert of southernmost Nevada. His goal, he says, was to capture “a view of the landscape and then try to make something a bit more abstract of it.” Representing a new direction for him is THROUGH GOOD COUNTRY, in which “the big, smooth sandstone cliffs of southern Utah” form a dramatic backdrop for a cowboy on horseback. “I’d never done horses before,” says Johnson, “but I thought it would be nice to put in a rider to lend some scale and emphasis. I drew the study a bit larger to help feel my way in rendering the horse, and I liked it so much that I made it a bigger part of the canvas.”

Similarly happy surprises are likely to greet visitors to the concurrent shows, which open on Saturday, November 3, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. with a reception at which both artists will be present. “We expect a lot of collectors to be there as well,” says Alexander. “These are two technically and creatively strong artists, each with his own voice, and they fall right in line with our belief that the western genre of art continues to move forward.” —Norman Kolpas

contact information
213.275.1060
www.maxwellalexandergallery.com

This story was featured in the November 2018 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art November 2018 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

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