Golden Age Inspiration
In 2023, Logan Maxwell Hagege was browsing social media and scrolled past some artwork by George G. Redden. “I spotted his paintings randomly on Instagram and they instantly stood out to me. Something about the clean design and blend of classical realism mixed with some elements of the Golden Age of Illustration just spoke to me,” Hagege says. “I sent his Instagram page to Beau [Alexander at Maxwell Alexander Gallery] and George was invited to participate in the Black Friday show…it’s a great venue to make a debut.”
It was only after Redden was invited to show at the gallery that Hagege and Alexander learned more information about the up-and-coming artist: “Funny side note, when Beau contacted him neither of us knew he was Grant Redden’s son—he didn’t mention it,” Hagege adds. “Weeks later Grant sorta mentioned it in passing.”
For the artist—who uses George G. professionally, but goes by Grant and even sounds like his father—it was important he was recognized for his talent and not as the son of a famous Western painter. “I was grateful Logan found my work, but it was nice he didn’t know. I lean on my mentors a lot, including my dad, but it was important to be recognized for the work itself,” Redden says.
The artist and father of four, lives in Lyman, Wyoming, about an hour away from his dad. He moved there after an education at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where he studied wildlife. He started learning art from his dad, but later studied under Albin Veselka, Josh Clare and Michael Malm. The initial spark for art came from drawing, “lots and lots of drawing,” he says. “I drew all the time, not too much coloring or painting, but
lots of drawing. I had various creative pursuits as a young adult and in my teenage years, including some things in film and acting. I was trying to figure out how to satisfy this creative bug,” he says. “I kept coming back to the arts, especially drawing and design.”
He detoured through animal conservation, where he worked at the county level helping ranchers with range issues. As he would go out on jobs, he would take art supplies into the field. Eventually, as his work progressed, he knew it was time to make the switch to a fulltime artist. He hasn’t turned back.
“My work is really inspired by the Golden Age Illustrators, artists like Dean Cornwell, J.C. Leyendecker and N.C. Wyeth,” Redden says. “I like that illustrative style, which is a big departure from what my dad does. I tend to like shape. He loves color, and knows color better than anyone I know. Shape speaks to me louder than color does, and the illustrators would define those shapes.”
Redden will debut new work in his first solo show on February 10 at Maxwell Alexander Gallery in Pasadena, California.