Graphic, and eventually, museum-and-gallery artist Peter Max was born on this day in 1937 (he died just this past September 14 at age 88.) Givin the brashness of his work, Max comes across as surprisingly soft-spoken in this interview from nine years ago. Watch:
The social upheaval of the 1960s was matched, maybe even surpassed, by the aesthetic upheaval of the same period. Everything--book jackets, album covers, clothing, hair styles, dorm rooms--just looked different, way different, at the end of the decade than it did at the beginning, as the avant-garde became commonplace, and the whole world fell under the spell of Day-Glo. Chief among the conjurors was Peter Max, whose psychedelic incantations came to epitomize the counterculture. However, there was a catch. Though it's downplayed in the above video, Max was an adman, albeit a highly unconventional one. Much more conventional were the corporate clients who paid his keep. Just whose culture was being countered, anyway? Not that I lose sleep over any of this. While the goal of advertising may be to separate our wallets from our money in the pursuit of goods and services, the ads themselves remain free, and that made Max's own goods a bargain, at least as far as my bedazzled eyes are concerned. A trippy Dow Jones sampling of his work:
Carson's set looked a bit different by the end of the '60s, at least when Max was the guest.
A public service announcement:
Finally, as no client that I know of asked for it, this poster may qualify as art for art's sake:
For limited time only.
I love the pop art ads and I don't remember seeing anything like that here. He was a character.
ReplyDeleteAndrew, every now and then you show a mural with a po art look to it.
DeleteI love this post ❤️ It's so full of colour and energy and celebrities and it's also a walk down the memory lane. No wonder the interviewer lady is so exited, hah hah, much more so than the man himself ! Thank you for this, Kirk, and have a great day 🌻
ReplyDeleteRita, the interviewer lady seemed to be answering her own questions at one point.
DeleteGraphic and appealing. He perhaps foreshadowed people like Andy Warhol. It would have been exciting to know artists like this; an injection of the oomph of life.
ReplyDeleteOr Andy Warhol foreshadowed him, David.
DeleteHello Kirk, You outdid yourself with this tribute. When my mother redid the kitchen in that period, she was relatively conservative in an up-to-date way, but chose bright green Peter Max enameled canisters, which we still have. You say that he is soft spoken, but how could he get a word in edgewise with that interviewer? I would much rather have heard Peter's words.
ReplyDelete--Jim
p.s., When you mention Day Glow colors, you should remind people that they came from Cleveland!
Jim, I couldn't remind people that Day-Glo came from Cleveland because I didn't know it. You taught me something new. I also did a little checking and found out that Day-Glo is now owned by RPM International, whose headquarters in Medina County I drive past going to and from work.
DeleteMan, his art was EVERYWHERE in the 60s and 70s, wasn't it? It may be crass of me, but I wonder how much his estate was worth.
ReplyDeleteI'm crass enough to look it up, Debra. $100 million. That's a lot of fluorescence!
DeleteHe was a part of my coming of age as an art student in the late 60s. He was also another argument from my mother that art should make money.
ReplyDeleteMitchell, your mother's argument is why I'm so conflicted by Max's legacy. In the end his talent won out for me, which is why I decided to pay tribute to him, as backhanded as that tribute may be.
DeleteDon't get me started on Charles M. Schulz (a childhood-and-beyond hero of mine.) If anything, he left an even bigger estate.
I remember that aesthetic! These examples capture it well. They remind me of the Yellow Submarine movie.
ReplyDeleteNowadays everything seems to be black and white and grey and beige. It's like the color has drained out of the world.
Infidel, a German artist by the name of Heinz Edelmann designed the Yellow Submarine movie, though some sources say the producers first asked Peter Max, who couldn't spare the time, and it was he who then recommended Edelmann. The producers clearly wanted that "look".
DeleteI love these vintage signs/posters!
ReplyDeleteLinda, your use of the word "vintage" jumps out at me. Peter Max's style was once seen as cutting edge, whereas the term "vintage" was reserved for the older graphic art of people like Norman Rockwell and Harry Sundbloom (who did the Coca-Cola Santa Claus ads.) How things change.
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