2013 Masters of the American West - Autry National Center

Saturday, February 2, 2013 marks the beginning of the annual Masters of the American West Show at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, CA.  The exhibition of new works by 82 of today's leading artists in the Western genre will run from February 2nd to March 17th.  If you want to purchase one of the works, Saturday, February 2nd is the most important day.  The event opens with a presentation by wonderful artist Ralph Oberg: Climbing the Switchback Trail—A Life and Career in the Mountains at 10:30am at the Museum.  At 2pm, Morgan Weistling will give a presentation titled: Making Stuff Up.  The reception and sale begins at 5:30pm on Saturday, February 2nd.  You will have to purchase event tickets if you want to attend or submit an intent to purchase slip.  Here's a link to the Masters of the American West website.  Many of the usual suspects are still participating like Howard Terpning, George Carlson, Mian Situ, Daniel Smith, Tim Shinabarger, Morgan Weistling, Kyle Sims, Luke Frazier, Tucker Smith, Ken Carlson, Bill Anton, Z.S. Liang, Dean Mitchell, Ralph Oberg, and many others.  Some of the newcomers include one of my favorite artists Logan Maxwell Hagege.  Unless you live under a rock, you've probably seen Logan in every major Western art magazine recently.  The attention is well deserved as he is one of the bright young artists in the Western genre.  This last July, we had a show at my gallery featuring Logan's work and sold the majority of his works before the show opened.  Keep an eye out for his work and if you don't already, add his work to your collection.  There are actually seven new artists this year, and they include: Tom Browning, Donald Demers, Mick Doellinger, Logan Maxwell Hagege, Ned Mueller, Kenny McKenna, and Thomas Saubert.

I'll be anxious to see who wins the awards, and if there will be some new winners or if it will be the same 5-7 aritsts who win the awards each year.  Don't get me wrong, the artists that win the awards are very deserving, but it would be nice to see some new winners break through.  Here aer some of the outstanding works in this year's show.

George Carlson Drenched in Sunlight

Tucker Smith Yellowston Cliffs

Logan Maxwell Hagege The Storm Clears

Kyle Sims The Suitor

Tim Shinabarger Moonlight Hunters

Howard Terpning Mystery of the Underwater People

Krystii Melaine Expecting Trouble

Of course, there are so many more fantastic works, but these are some that caught my eye and I think George Carlson is one of the most undervalued artists in America.  Krystii Melaine is an extraordinary talent.  She can flat out paint!  It's no secret that I think Tim Shinabarger is the country's premier wildlife sculptor and should be in every collection.  Tucker Smith's Yellowstone Cliffs is a terrific painting and really portrays what makes Tucker such an incredible artist.  Kyle Sims and Logan Hagege are a couple artists that I think people will be saying, "I could have bought one of their paintings when they were only x-amount of money."  They're only going to get better.

Stay tuned for a review of major upcoming shows in 2013.  It's early, so let's make our travel plans now, and let's get together in Great Falls, MT, Scottsdale, AZ, Reno, NV and Jackson, WY among many of the great destinations that host Western Art events.