Meet The Artist Saturday, July 2 • 7–10 pm Sunday, July 3 • 1– 4pm RSVP: 609-368-7777 or RSVP@OceanGalleries.com OceanGalleries.com
© Peter Max 2016
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A p e r fe c t s u m m e r d a y i s w h e n t h e s u n i
s shining, ...
The Face of
Pop Art
Peter Max Returns With a Fresh Take on the Statue of Liberty By David J. Spatz
Liberty Head 2000
t takes just the right combination of talent, poise and confidence for any type of artist to deliver a picture-perfect performance on just the first take. Throw in some bold splashes of color and a unique way of seeing the world around him, and Peter Max becomes one of those rare individuals. As America celebrates its 240 th birthday, what better demonstration of that gift than Max’s pop-art interpretation of one of the country’s most iconic and enduring symbols of freedom: the Statue of Liberty, whose towering presence in New York Harbor has welcomed immigrants to their new home – and citizens returning from abroad – since 1886. For his annual visit to Ocean Galleries in Stone Harbor, one of Max’s offerings will be a new piece that combines his 40-year-old salute to the Statue of Liberty with his unique take on the American flag. “Peter Max Celebrates America the Beautiful” will be presented at the gallery July 1-4, with the artist appearing July 2-3 to meet the public and to sign purchased art. “I love the Statue of Liberty because she represents an amazing thing that we sometimes take for granted – liberty,” Max says during a conversation from his studio in New York. Max has painted Lady Liberty many times since creating his first colorful portrait of the statue as part of America’s bicentennial celebration in 1976. He made a promise to himself to paint Liberty Heads in increasing numbers every year since. Each of his paintings offers little nuances that makes it July 2016
different from the original. But he never strays too far afield from his first painting. Yet, every time he paints the statue and brings something new to the canvas, he feels he can never top his original work. It’s that way with everything he paints. His
first takes are invariably the best. “I’ve gotta tell you, all the ones I do are (just) an extra version,” he says. “I’m happy with all the ones I’ve ever done, but the first ones are always the best.” In the early 1980s, when the statue
Peter Max in his studio.
needed an extensive overhaul, Max teamed up with Lee Iacocca, at the time the CEO of the Chrysler Corporation, to use his talents as an artist and his love for his country to help raise many of the millions of dollars needed for the statue’s restoration. But it’s still his original painting of the statue that’s become so well-known and popular that even today, it pops up in the most expected and unexpected places. In 2013, when the 1,069-foot Norwegian Breakaway completed her maiden voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, native New Yorkers found themselves bursting with pride as dawn broke over the ship, for which Max had been commissioned to create the hull art. Dominating the bow of the ship was the artist’s Liberty Head. The cruise ship was far and away the biggest commission of his career. The second-biggest was in 1999 on another form of transportation: The livery for a Continental Airlines Boeing 777-200ER, which also included a Liberty Head. The plane’s art work, which he referred to as a “living canvas,” was never intended to be permanent. It was part of a special airline promotion of its service to New York City. In 2008, the wide-body jet was repainted with the airline’s standard livery. Although he’s been an American citizen for decades, Max, 78, wasn’t born in the United States, which might be why he’s developed such a passion for the Statue of Liberty. He and his parents took a circuitous route around the world before finally settling in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn. continued on page 56 WWW.SEVENMILETIMES.COM
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He was born Peter Max Finkelstein in Berlin, Germany in 1937. His family, who was Jewish, fled the Nazis in 1938 and moved to Shanghai, where they lived for the next 10 years. It was during his decade in China that he was initially exposed to colorful art and was fascinated and drawn to bold and vibrant colors. As a young boy, he looked for every opportunity to draw on something – anything – much to the dismay of his mother. “But my parents inspired me and encouraged me” to become an artist, Max says. His other childhood inspiration and influence came from the different cultures as he and his family experienced as they led a fairly nomadic existence,
traveling through Tibet, southern Africa, India, Italy, Israel and France. Some of his childhood memories can still be seen in his works today. Living in Tibet, he was fascinated by the monks during their meditations as they carried their walking sticks and chanted by a waterfall at sunset. To this day, some elements of the monks and the sticks and the waterfalls pop up in his paintings. Max began to receive formal training as an artist when he was 10 and living in Haifa, Israel. Before moving to America, the family lived in Paris for nine months. Max discovered the artistic wonders and mysteries of the Louvre, the world’s largest museum which houses the most outstanding collection of art ever assembled.
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Saturday in the park, I think it was the Fourth of July. ~ C h i ca g o
Celebrate America The Beautiful
The Profile
July 2016
Meet The Artist Saturday, July 2 • 7–10pm Sunday, July 3 • 1– 4pm RSVP: 609-368-7777 or RSVP@OceanGalleries.com Sage with Umbrella
the planets, the stars, all the (things) that surround us in space. It’s just mind-boggling. We’re living on this little planet called Earth, which may seem big to us, but it’s among millions and millions and millions of other planets out there.” Although some who don’t understand his work have considered him a “space cadet” as an artist, Max almost seems to embrace the term. He says he’d love nothing more than to travel into space and create art. “I used to daydream about that all the time,” he says. Peter Max, astronaut? “Why not?” he asks with a happy laugh. “I am almost one right now.”
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© Peter Max 2016
Not long after his family immigrated to America, he resumed his formal art training at the Art Students League in Manhattan, where he studied anatomy, composition and figure drawing. In the early 1960s, Max and a friend opened a small art studio in Manhattan, right around the same time he painted what would be the first of a seemingly endless catalogue of celebrities. His subject was Marilyn Monroe, and he did the painting not long before the big-screen sex symbol died of an apparent overdose of sleeping pills in August 1962. “It was right at the beginning (of my career) and I got to know her and love her and work with her,” Max says. “She was an amazing person to work with.” By the mid-1960s, as the psychedelic era was unfolding, Max’s artistic style kept pace with the times. His colorful counterculture imagery blended with the times, resulting in a series of commercially successful paintings and prints. Rare was the college dorm room that didn’t have at a Peter Max poster hanging on the wall. Because art has dominated his life since childhood, and because he’s mastered so many styles, it’s difficult to imagine Max as anything but an artist. But if his art career hadn’t panned out, he says he’d have definitely considered a career as an astronomer. “I’ve always wanted to be more involved in astronomy,” he says. “I love all
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Customer Cover Art by Peter Max June 30, 2016
A star-studded Fourth PAGE 20-21
at the shore THE MAGAZINE
Peter
MAX in
Stone Harbor
Tim
McGRAW in Wildwood
Customer Cover Art by Peter Max June 30, 2016
TM
thefine of Being Peter Max by Peter Proko
© Peter Max 2016
IN WHAT HAS BECOME an annual rite of passage, iconic artist Peter Max will return to Stone Harbor’s Ocean Galleries over the July Fourth weekend to showcase his latest works alongside some of his most recognizable pieces. Even at 78 years old, Max paints every day and continues to unveil new creations, like this month’s cover of the magazine. We spoke with Max ahead of the upcoming exhibition to find out more about his passion, his fondness for the Shore and how he’s evolved over the span of his remarkable career.
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Q&A
SOUTH JERSEY MAGAZINE: You’ll be returning to Ocean Galleries this July Fourth weekend, what can visitors expect from this year’s exhibit? PETER MAX: Some classics and some new works never seen before. I’ve also recreated some familiar works in new color spectrums. But I always like to have a few surprises.
SJM: Lots of folks have traditions for the Fourth, and you could say that one of yours is visiting Stone Harbor. What makes the place so special for you to revisit year after year? PM: It’s always a pleasure to visit Stone Harbor. The fresh air and views of the Atlantic Ocean are a special treat for the senses as well as the small town charm. But I especially enjoy seeing my friends and fans—the people who come to my gallery shows—they are all relaxed and in good spirits, and we have a great time. SJM: What are some of your favorite memories from the time you have spent in Stone Harbor? PM: Mainly the new people I meet and the familiar faces who I have seen at previous shows. Meeting new friends and seeing old ones is my greatest pleasure.
Self portrait courtesy of Peter Max
interview
SJM: Your work has appeared on a cruise ship, on a plane, even in promotions for The Voice. In what ways is it gratifying to see your work branch out from paint on canvas into these other projects? PM: There was an expression in the ’60s coined by Marshall McLuhan that said, “The media is the message.” To me, “the media is the canvas.” It’s great to have a canvas on a gallery or museum wall, but it’s something special to see my art blown up on a cruise ship or a Continental Airlines’ super jet. SJM: Your mother was a fashion designer, what did she teach you about not only creating something, but refining it? PM: Mainly, she gave me the freedom to create. She would leave various art supplies on the balconies of our pagoda-style house in Shanghai when I was a young child and she would tell me, “Go ahead and make a big mess, I will clean up after you.” She also hired a young Chinese nanny to look after me and she taught me how to paint with a calligraphy brush, using the movement of my wrist. Those lessons have inspired the way I paint today—even how I sign my signature. SJM: What’s the best piece of advice you were ever given, regarding art or otherwise? PM: It wasn’t so much advice as it was a teaching of discovering the inner state of peace within me and allowing my art to flow out of that. It was a gift of yoga and meditation taught to me by the yoga master, Swami Satchidananda. I met him in Paris and invited him to America and helped him to found the Integral Yoga Institute. The drawings that emerged after meeting the Swami gave rise to my whole cosmic ’60s style. SJM: You’ve been a vital part of the art world since the beginning of your career. How challenging is that to pull off without compromising your approach, style, etc.? PM: There was no compromise. I just tapped into the evolution of consciousness that was arising out of the new ’60s cultural revolution and expressed myself, just as The Beatles did with their music. SJM: How do you think you’ve evolved as an artist? PM: Many times when I reach the peak of a certain period, I feel an urge to just stop, take a break (in my case a long private retreat in the 1970s), and create a new way of expressing myself. After my Realism period, I moved on to innovative graphic design, then to collage, then to my cosmic ’60s style, and finally Expressionism. SJM: What keeps you motivated to continue to create instead of just riding off into retirement with a storied career to look back on? PM: I don’t think an artist can do that; there are always new ways to express oneself. Of course the energy changes as you get older, but the artistic quest for expression continues. SOUTH JERSEY MAGAZINE VOLUME 13 ISSUE 3 SOUTHJERSEYMAGAZINE.COM
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interview SJM: You have a great connection and affinity for music, and some great musicians say they don’t sit down and write, rather they hear the music in their head and sit down to an instrument and it flows out of them naturally. Do you have a similar approach to letting the art flow out of you? PM: Yes, absolutely. When I painted in Realism, it was like I was a classical composer, but when the music evolved to rock ‘n’ roll and jazz, my art and free expression went along with it and I got into the groove of improvisation. SJM: I’ve read you are going to be involved with the 50th anniversary of Woodstock in a few years, can you share what the project will entail? PM: Producer Michael Lang and I are discussing it. Last time, for the 30th anniversary, I created a 600-foot wide by 80-foot high stage set. For the 50th anniversary I don’t know yet. I hope to surprise myself. SJM: At one point you were living in Woodstock, correct? What were some of the more memorable times you had there, what was the scene like? PM: It was a great time. On weekends I would meet music manager Albert
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Grossman for brunch and we were joined by such greats as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Peter, Paul and Mary and The Band. SJM: Do you think about your legacy, is that important to you? PM: Yes, of course, like any other artist. SJM: At Ocean Galleries you get the chance to meet with fans of your work, what do you enjoy most about that type of interaction? PM: It’s so nice to get feedback from others and to receive their appreciation. I enjoy seeing my work through their eyes. SJM: Of all the pieces you’ve created over the years, is there one or a few that give you the most sense of pride of accomplishment? PM: There are so many, it’s hard to say. It’s usually the genre itself that gives me pride. I love so many works from my different periods—my collages, my cosmic ’60s work, my expressionistic works, my lady profiles, etc. I have been blessed by abundance in my work and it’s hard to pick out favorites. I might say a “Blushing Beauty” at one time, or I might say an “Umbrella Man” at another.
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