by donald dusinberre imartsyfartsy@gmail.com
Everybody knows Peter Max, if only by his artistic output. Even if you have never heard his name before, which is unlikely, but you have definitely seen his drawings and paintings. Without a doubt.
On an evening sometime in the mid-nineties, I remember seeing Peter Max on a late-night talk show. I don’t even remember which one, but after awhile, they all seem the same. Anyway, he brought some paintings (similar to one or two on display now at R. Roberts Gallery), but I didn’t really know who he was, and I certainly didn’t make the connection to his other work.
Once I did a little research, I realized just how many Peter Max images were already in my head, albeit untagged. It was like the time I watched Behind the Music: The Bee Gees and couldn’t believe (and in this case, didn’t want to believe) how many songs I knew. Don’t bother laughing, because you know them too.
I got a chance to talk to Peter Max the other day, and he’s got more energy than I do. He sounded like a high school graduate, full of enthusiasm and sure that everything was going to work out great.
And indeed, things have been great for him. He has had the opportunity to create many amazing things, including Boeing jets, postage stamps, a section of the Berlin wall, logos, and special projects for five presidents.
Peter Max’s artwork is on display now at R. Roberts Gallery, and he’ll be visiting the gallery on Saturday, January 26th, from 6 pm – 9 pm and Sunday, January 27th, from 12 pm – 3 pm.
EU: How long will you be in Jacksonville to promote your work at the R. Roberts Gallery?
Max: Just two days, but I wish I could stay in Jacksonville longer because it’s an area I really love a lot. I’ve been there a few times.
EU: How different is your personal work from your commissioned work? Do you approach the creative process differently?
Max: You know, I don’t do that much commissioned work, most of my work is totally personal. I get up every morning with so much enthusiasm that it’s almost hard to talk about, and the second I’m in my painting room, which is quite large, and I could stay for twelve hours. I love the process that happens in my brain and being when I’m creating. It’s just so freeing. It’s so rewarding because, here I am doing things on a canvas with all the colors I love, with all the brushes I have and love, with big fat tubes, and I can go anywhere I want, and I do.
EU: After viewing your work at the gallery, I noticed that most of your images are quite uplifting and enthusiastic. The easiest explanation would be the vibrant colors, but I don’t think that’s the only one. What else do you use when you create?
Max: Well, the music. The freedom of movement. The possibility of every conceivable color combination. I can conceive composition, shapes, textures, it’s all available. One part of the painting can be textural while the other part is flat, and I can look back on the whole thing, walk ten feet away and I can re-compose it.
I love the fact that I know a lot about painting, I know a lot about composition and abstraction, and they’re available to me with just a stroke of the wrist.
EU: You listen to music when you paint. Does the sound and style of a band or artist specifically alter your direction?
Max: Not so much, but they give me enthusiasm.
EU: Do you hear color?
Max: You can’t hear color, but you can feel it or see it. But you know, colors really work when there are color combinations, like when a particular color sits nicely next to another color. It’s just like when a nice note or two sits next to another note. A note all by itself is just a note, right? But when you surround that note with four other notes, then you go, ‘oh my God, isn’t it amazing how those notes do that to each other?’
EU: You may be one of the most prolific artists around, and your enthusiasm doesn’t seem to slow you down, but do you think an artist can become used up and get to the point where they are incapable of making something new?
Max: I am more creative now than I ever have been in my life. If I had 48 hours a day instead of 24, I’d be working all the extra time.
EU: Why do you think that is?
Max: Well, you know when you use a tool; you get better at it, like a good jazz pianist. When he plays a lot, he must be getting better at it. I used to always be amazed with how a jazz musician can keep going and going, reinventing himself. It’s mind-boggling. The same thing happens in art.
EU: Your work has a deliberate, iconic look, as powerful as a well-respected logo. Do you have a personal favorite? One you consider your own logo?
Max: Remember the cosmic period I did in the late sixties, with the stars and planets? I love that genre because I was so crazy about astronomy. So those drawings and paintings brought me closer to my second love, astronomy.
EU: Which of your works do you believe will live longest in the mind of history?
Max: It’s hard to tell, but I think my cosmic stuff, but I think if you asked me that same question tomorrow, I’d probably give you a different answer.
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