INSIDE Walter Ufer • The Russell • Collecting Landscapes • State of the Art: Colorado MARCH 2014
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UPCOMING GROUP SHOW
S HOW LO C AT ION S COT T S DA L E , A Z
Up to 20 works March 24-April 5, 2014 Trailside Galleries 7330 Scottsdale Mall Scottsdale, AZ 85251 (480) 945-7751
Classics of the West
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tradition each March of the Scottsdale arts scene is Western Classics, a group exhibition hosted by Trailside Galleries. Opening March 24 with an artists’ reception April 3 from 6 to 8 p.m., this show features traditional Western paintings and sculpture by more than 30 of the leading representational artists in the country. Subject matter ranges from traditional and contemporary cowboy scenes to dramatic landscapes and much more in the Western genre. Some of the artists participating include Bill Anton, Z.S. Liang, Dan Mieduch, Bill Nebeker, David Halbach, Jim Norton, Cynthia
Rigden, James Jiang, Brenda Murphy, Stan Davis, Howard Rogers, Curt Walters, Arturo Chávez, Richard D. Thomas, and Logan Maxwell Hagege. In Hagege’s new painting for the show, Amongst the Sage, his goal was to set a stage for the figures in this dramatic landscape. “I think of the foreground as the stage and the landscape in the background as a sort of backdrop for the characters in the painting,” explains Hagage. “The stark late-afternoon light helped push to illustrate the simplified shapes that are found in the desert. This exaggeration of shapes is something that I really like to play
Jim Norton, Utes Along The Little Fork, oil, 20 x 30”
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with in my work. I like to see how far I can push it and see how the viewer can participate in the interpretation of elements in the artwork.” At 81 years old, Rogers has spent a lifetime—more than 60 years—expressing himself through art. “I thoroughly enjoy what I do,” comments Rogers from his home in Cave Creek, Arizona. While well known for his Western-themed works, Rogers also paints nudes, wildlife, and florals and at one point in his career he also sculpted female bronzes. Rogers plans on creating about a half dozen new paintings for Western Classics, including a recently finished
Morgan Weistling, Savannah, oil, 26 x 18”
Patricia Dobson, Acoma Jewels, oil, 24 x 30”
20-by-30-inch piece called The Only Place to Cross. “I’ve got a variety of new works,” says Rogers, “Some quail pieces, a few of my women pieces, including a real pretty gal with a great big hat with flowers in her hand, a smaller piece of a country girl with jeans and a background with my own imaginative brushstrokes, and a cowboy on a horse with a dog reflected in a pond, plus more.” The concept for Dobson’s new piece for the show, titled Acoma Jewels, began with the huge four-colored 19th-century polychrome jar on the left in the painting. “It is the finest jar I’ve ever had the good fortune of seeing and handling,” explains Dobson. “It took my breath away when I got to photograph it at the home of the late Richard Howard, and it became the anchor for this grouping of stunning Acoma jars. I work mainly in a series of glazes to achieve my end result and always enjoy bringing them out of a dark and dramatic background.” Fo r a d i re c t l i n k to t he e x h i b it i n g g a l l e r y g o to w w w. we ste r n a r tc o l le c to r. c o m
Logan Maxwell Hagege, Amongst the Sage, oil on linen, 25 x 30”
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