Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson

Live from Maxwell Alexander Gallery

Nov 1, 2022

01:03:26

This is a special podcast episode that was recorded live in Los Angeles at Maxwell Alexander Gallery’s 10 Year Anniversary Exhibition. Maxwell Alexander Gallery was founded back in 2012, when brothers Beau Alexander and Logan Maxwell Hagege decided to start an artist-focused gallery that spotlighted the West’s most cutting-edge art. What started with a crazy idea, a small space, and a few artists has evolved into one of the most well-known galleries in the West– a gallery that celebrates the many complex facets of the American West through paintings and sculpture.

This is a recording of an artist panel discussion that was held on Saturday evening, just before the public exhibition began. The panel includes both Beau and Logan, as well as renowned western artists Kim Wiggins, Eric Bowman, and T. Allen Lawson, who goes by Tim. We recorded this conversation in a space next door to the gallery, and we quickly filled all of the chairs and it became a standing-room-only event. The six of us sat on stools in front of Logan’s 8'x12' painting titled “The Song at Sunset,” which Logan discusses during the panel. If you’d like to see an image of this massive work of art, there’s a link in the episode notes.

Over the course of an hour, the six of us had a wonderful conversation that covered a wide range of topics, everything from the founding of the Maxwell Alexander Gallery all the way to expectations about the future of the Western art markets. Tim speaks about how he used to go out looking for scenes to paint, but now he patiently waits for the “paintings to come to [him].” Kim talks about his unique upbringing in New Mexico and how professional art captured him from an early age. Eric discussed how he treats each of his paintings as an “open-ended story” so as to draw the viewer deeper into the work. And those are just a few of the many topics we discussed. Check out the notes for a full list of topics.

And if you leave this episode wanting to hear more from these artists, don’t worry– I’ve convinced them all to join me for their own episodes in the coming months. And you can always go back and listen to my first episode with Logan by following the link in the notes.

A huge thank you to Beau and Logan for inviting me to this one-of-a-kind event, and a thank you to all of the artists for being such fun, welcoming, and fascinating people who contribute so much to the culture of the American West. I was honored to be included, and I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

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Maxwell Alexander Gallery 10-Year Anniversary Exhibition
Logan's first M&P episode
Full notes, links, and photos: https://mountainandprairie.com/maxwell-alexander/

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TOPICS DISCUSSED:

3:15 - Introductions
4:30 - Ed starts the questions
5:45 - Logan talks about starting up the Maxwell Alexander Gallery and why they were interested in doing so
8:00 - Beau talks about the biggest surprises he experienced in starting the gallery
10:45 - Beau and Logan discuss how they evaluate which artists are a good fit for their gallery
13:45 - Tim discusses his process of letting “paintings come to me”
16:15 - Tim talks about balancing (or not balancing) making art that he knows will sell with trying new forms of art
17:45 - Kim talks about becoming an artist
22:45 - Eric discusses how he makes his paintings “open-ended [stories]”
25:45 - Eric talks about how the American West captured his imagination
28:00 - Beau discusses his process of encouraging artists that he works with without over-influencing them
30:00 - Logan discusses his large work of art positioned behind the panel (name?)
32:30 - Beau discusses Logan’s painting
34:15 - The panel talks about the responsibility they feel to understand the history of the places they represent in their art
40:30 - Eric discusses why he believes that making art should never be easy
42:30 - Beau talks about the business of art, how it was impacted by COVID-19, and what he is thinking about as predictions of a recession circulate
47:15 - Audience question: How does the panel compose their color harmonies, especially Logan on such large paintings?
52:45 - Audience question: Discuss the effect of the 2021 Maxwell Alexander artist’s retreat
55:45 - Audience question: Does anyone on the panel intend to make a big shift in their style, or do they feel locked in?
1:00:00 - Tim celebrates Logan and Beau’s work at the gallery
1:01:00 - Logan and Beau express their appreciation for the artists