The Live Free Generation: Complicated Contradictions of the Early 2000’s Underground, Street Art, and Pop Surrealism, scene

Where: Join via Zoom https://pointloma.zoom.us/j/91549874522 (simulcast to @bggallery instagram live)

Gallery Website: bgartgalleries.com 

Email: info@bgartdealings.com Phone: +1 310-906-4211

When: August 6, 2020, 7:00 - 9:00PM PST 

bG Gallery is excited to present a panel exploring the early 2000’s Underground, Street Art, and Pop Surrealism scene in conjunction with Mike Maxwell’s solo exhibition. Art historian, Jim Daichendt, will explore turn of the century events through the lives of those artists active through the period, and the complex divides that they had to navigate. These artists oscillated between the street and the gallery, illustration and academic, popular- and counter-cultures as these movements intersected and interwove and developed into what many now refer to as the New Contemporary Movement.

G. James Daichendt, Ed.D., serves as Vice-Provost for Traditional Undergraduate Studies and Dean of the Colleges at Point Loma Nazarene University in Southern California. He is the author of numerous books, such as, Robbie Conal: Streetwise: 35 Years of Politically Charged Guerrilla Art (2020), The Urban Canvas: Street Art Around the World (2017), Kenny Scharf: In Absence of Myth (2016), and Shepard Fairey Inc.: Artist/Professional/Vandal (2014).

Daichendt is an art critic and journalist who has contributed to a number of publications, including, The San Diego Union Tribune, LA Weekly, Emmy Award-winning television series, “Artbound”, ArtScene, Artillery, Pasadena Scene Magazine, and Beverly Hills Lifestyle, among many others. In addition, he is the chief editor of the academic journal, Visual Inquiry: Learning and Teaching Art. Daichendt holds a doctorate from Columbia University and graduate degrees from Harvard and Boston Universities. 

Mike Maxwell is a highly respected member of the underground art world, which he entered into in the late 1990’s, when  he worked as an assistant for Shepard Fairey. Maxwell’s art gained great recognition after he created the portrait logo for Joe Rogan’s popular podcast. Maxwell’s podcast, “Live Free Podcast,” was an artist-interviewing-artist platform that aired more than 100 episodes, some of which will be included in the evening’s presentation.