Currently on view at Maxwell Alexander Gallery in Los Angeles, California is artist Grant Redden’s solo exhibition, “Trailing Home.”
Born and raised in Southwest Wyoming, Redden creates from the same land as his pioneer ancestors and father worked. His mother was born in a log cabin on the Henry’s Fork of the Green river in Wyoming, and his father’s family were some of the first pioneers to settle in the area. Redden paints on a 120 acre ranch, and actively continues to work the land. Strong and reliant, Redden pulls from the very lifestyle he creates, allowing the viewer to participate in his depth of experience. In this, he is continuing to contribute to the heritage of the west while at the same time creating from it.
“The more I paint, the more excited I get about the craftsmanship that goes into a well-made painting…” Redden says. Redden uses multiple layers of paint and color application to build up to the final piece. Up close, the work is completely abstractive; but stepping back makes the moments of varied hue and saturation mesh into a collaborative whole. Much like the partnership needed in ranch life, his compositions and paint application work together to create a synthesis in each final piece.
Redden’s work is heavily influenced by his love of the outdoors and his fascination with how people interact with the natural world. Growing up on his family ranch in Southwestern Wyoming, Redden has a first had view of the old west – and these are the subjects he holds closet to his heart. He’s able to use relics from his family’s past like the batwing chaps his father passed down, prominently featured in “Pidbald Mustang Mare.” Or the knowledge of riding through the mountains, which he did as a kid, just like the scene he created for the largest work in the show, “Trail Through the Ledges.” “We would do this when I was a kid. We would pack salt and groceries into the Uinta Mountains where herds of sheep would stay for a couple of months.”
“With some of my work, I strive to make it look like the cowboy and western life from 1900 to the 1930’s, while my models and landscapes are from what I see daily on the ranch,” Redden notes. Although, many may catch the influences of Frank Tenney Johnson and W. Herbert (Buck) Dunton, Redden’s creations are wholly his own.
