Thursday, March 28, 2013

Artist's Statement: Peter Max



Have you ever seen the film "Yellow Submarine" starring The Beatles? That is where my love of Peter Max began. His colorful and often "psychedelic" images are well known around the world. I chose Peter Max for the challenge of creating an image in his style in Adobe Illustrator. The Part One's background is an image painted by Max showing his love for astronomy. I created the portrait of Max in the top left. The painting of the Statue of Liberty was created by Max soon after September 11th 2001. Max is still painting today. I loved his depiction of the "twitter" emblem in the top right.

Part two's background is a scan of one of his paintings. I wanted to use it so everyone could get a really close up look of what his paintings might look like if we had our nose against one. The top painting is (of course) of the Mona Lisa, albeit, embellished. The second, was done in the 1960s. This style is one of my favorites of Max and harkens to the "Yellow Submarine" period. Peter Max had in beautiful collection of landscapes that were profound but simple. The large sun, orange sky makes me think of how Shanghai may have looked to Max as a child. I used a 14x14 "record album" canvas size.

 I wanted to share a few more pieces anyway:

I really want a print of this desert scene.

Max was featured in all sorts of magazines!

Max was the artist for an assortment of events including The World Cup, The U.S. Open, The Kentucky Derby and of course, the Grammys.

More 1960s art.

Max, himself. He had an art gallery in Santana Row for a few years in my early twenties. He would sit with his own paintings. When I began this project, I realized I had spoken to him on several occasions without realizing it! He had painted an electric guitar that I was enamored on.



I would love some feedback on my portrait of Max!