Where: Luna Rienne Gallery
Event Date: January 14, 2017
Location: 3318 22nd St, San Francisco, Ca
Exhibit Dates: January 14 - February 13
For more details: https://www.facebook.com/events/1719630975033481/
Norm Maxwell: Made In The Ghetto (1969-2016) honors the life and body of work of the recently-deceased urban contemporary artist and long-time Luna Rienne Gallery collaborator.
Opening Reception Saturday, January 14, 6-9PM
Showing through February 13, 2017
Norm “Nomzee” Maxwell was a visual artist whose education came via the streets (Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Los Angeles) and the Hussian School Of Art. His combination of urban upbringing and fine art training resulted stylistically in an esoteric combination of color, light, and subject matter. Culturally, Maxwell was a quintessential urban contemporary artist, with a portfolio that included graffiti, street wear design, club flyer and album art, graphic design, set design, and fine art painting.
Born in Philadelphia, PA on January 25, 1969, Maxwell was fully susceptible to and influenced by street life, finding his expression in writing graffiti in the 1980s as “Ice”. Mentors and peers encouraged him to pursue an art degree, and his career began in Los Angeles’ Skid Row in the early 1990s alongside urban art visionary Doze Green and Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Clarence Williams.
Like many burgeoning urban artists, Maxwell survived and flourished in San Francisco, then back to LA, by taking on a plethora of art and design jobs, including art directing multiple big-budget music videos. In 2007, he focused his energy back to fine art and opened Norm Maxwell Studio Gallery, which spanned six years and three locations. Maxwell garnered commissions from patrons in Los Angeles, Paris, Seoul, Berlin, and Dubai. At the time of his passing in July 2016, Korean patrons had recently opened Norm Maxwell Gallery Seoul.
Maxwell was a prolific artist whose skills and subject matter spanned the extremes of painting. From acrylic spray to oil brush, street life to ancient myth, and urban strife to family life, Maxwell addressed both the evil and beauty of humanity — a duality that he personally struggled with during his short and magnificent life. He is survived by his wife and two children.
Original artwork will NOT be for sale, but prints and books will be available. Donations are also requested to establish a fund to market this exhibition to museums and cultural centers.