Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/327657
including Los Angeles Confidential, Ocean Drive, Philadelphia Style, Capitol File, Vegas, Gotham, Hamptons, Aspen Peak, and Michigan Avenue. The origi- nal painting will be auctioned on Charitybuzz starting this month to benefit The Humane Society of the US. "I paint and draw every day, and I loved creating this cover art for Boston Common," says Max. "Independence Day, July 4th, has always been a special day for me. As a child growing up in Shanghai, I daydreamed about America, the land of the free, the home of the brave, and the most creative country on the planet. My cover art for Boston Common features one of our nation's most amazing July 4th celebra- tions, when the Boston Pops orchestra annually hosts a music and fireworks spectacular off the Charles River Esplanade. So much creative thinking and ingenuity comes from this city and the universities lining Boston's beautiful Charles River." In his studio—two full-f loor lofts near New York's Lincoln Center—Max has galleries' worth of his work: a towering portrait of the Statue of Liberty he painted on the White House lawn for President Ronald Reagan in 1981; a multicolored Baldwin piano signed by his pal Ringo Starr; rows of Lucite sculptures taken from his "Angel" series; a painted guitar originally made for Jon Bon Jovi; and portraits of everyone from Marilyn Monroe to John F. Kennedy, all done in Max's distinctive style. "When you're a singer and you have a really great voice, it's not like you create a voice—it's just there. My art is just there," says Max. "I just put the brush on paper and I don't even " CREATIVITY—IT'S ALL I DO. I DRAW ON AIRPLANES, IN LIMOS, AND IN TAXICABS." —PETER MAX Peter Max puts the finishing touches on his cover for Boston Common. know what I'm doing, but I know it's going to come out great. Twenty-four seven, creativity, creativity, creativ- ity—it's all I do. I draw on airplanes, I draw in limousines, I draw when I wake up in the morning, and in taxicabs." Beyond the studio, Max is a longtime vegetarian and practices yoga and meditation daily—a part of his routine for more than 40 years. He also gives freely of his time, money, and art to benefit animal charities such as The Humane Society of the US and the equine rescue organi- zation Wild for Life Foundation. By his side in all of it is his wife of 17 years, Mary Max, whom the artist calls "one of his greatest inspirations." "When I met her, it fueled me, and she still fuels me today, quite a few years later," he says of his wife, whom he spotted one day while out for coffee and declared he would marry at first sight. "We donate money left and right, we have events up [in the studio] all the time, and we have six rescue animals of our own at the house." At present, Max also has seven feature film and ani- mation projects in the works, including one for the estate of Frank Sinatra. Here, in celebration of Max's 50 years of commercial success and his collection of city renderings exclusively for Niche Media, the artist opens up to MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski about his unparalleled career, his spirituality, philan- thropy, and the famous friends who have helped inf luence his work. BEHIND THE BRUSHSTROKES Joe and Mika: Many artists will agree that it's a struggle to gain rec- ognition, but to keep it for 50 years is staggering. What do you think is the key to your success? Peter Max: It's just being present, letting creativity come through. I'm also lucky because we live in an age of media. When I was on the cover of Life magazine 45 years ago, there were only three magazines—Time, Life, and Fortune. My art got to be on two of those covers. Today there are thousands of magazines, and my work has been on 2,000 to 3,000 covers. Early in your career, you studied a lot of the old masters, from Rembrandt to Sargent. So how did you develop your cosmic style? I always used to draw, never even thinking that drawing is something you could do [as a career] once you became an adult. In China, I studied with the 6 -year-old daughter of a street artist. Then in Israel, my mother hooked me up with a famous art professor from Austria. After we left Israel and moved to Paris, my mother signed me up for the classes for kids at the Louvre. And when we came to America, I found a private teacher, Frank Reilly [at the Art Students League of New York]; after high school I'd go into the city and study with him. Frank Reilly went to that school 30 years earlier, and the kid who used to sit beside him was Norman Rockwell. Then I hooked up with some people with certain art schools that were very design-oriented. For someone who studied realism, your painting style is not neces- sarily realist.… No, I'm kind of impressionistic. Realism gave me the skill to paint, but my eye was more into design-ery art. The Art Students League has some famous alumni, including Jackson Pollock and Cy Twombly. Did you have any celebrity encounters? I once met Marilyn Monroe. Some of the students used to sit on the steps. I 92 BOSTONCOMMON-MAGAZINE.COM