ML - Aspen Peak

2014 - Issue 1 - Summer

Aspen Peak - Niche Media - Aspen living at its peak

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publications, which also include Boston Common, Capitol File, Gotham, Hamptons, Los Angeles Confidential, Michigan Avenue, Ocean Drive, Philadelphia Style, and Vegas. The original paintings will be auctioned on Charitybuzz from June 3 to August 6 to benefit The Humane Society of the US. "I paint and draw every day, and I loved creating this cover art," says Max. "It brought back childhood memories of traveling with my parents to the Himalayan Mountains in Western China and watching the Zen boats on the lakes and rivers in China. For Aspen Peak, I drew a sage in the Rocky Mountains watching over the moon- rise, a cosmic jumper through the stars, the colors of summer, and a Zen boat with heart—a cosmic Aspen landscape of nature, peace, and fantasy." In his New York loft studio 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 from his "Angel" series; a painted guitar made for Bon Jovi; and portraits of everyone from Marilyn Monroe to John F. Kennedy, all done in his distinctive style. "When you're a singer, it's not like you create a voice—it's just there. My art is just there," says Max. "I put the brush on paper and don't even know what I'm doing, but I know it's going to come out great; 24/7 creativity, creativity, creativity—it's all I do. I draw on air- planes, in limousines; I draw when I wake up in the morning and in taxicabs." " FOR ASPEN PEAK I DREW THE COLORS OF SUMMER, A COSMIC ASPEN LANDSCAPE OF NATURE, PEACE, AND FANTASY." —PETER MAX Peter Max puts the finishing touches on his cover for Aspen Peak. Beyond the studio, Max is a longtime vegetarian and practices yoga and meditation daily. 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 organization 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," he says of his wife, whom he spotted one day while out for coffee and declared he would marry. "We donate money, we host events, and we have six rescue animals of our own at the house." At present, Max also has seven feature film and anima- tion 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 career, spirituality, and philanthropy, and the famous friends who have helped influence his work. BEHIND THE BRUSHSTROKES MIKA BRZEZINSKI AND JOE SCARBOROUGH: Many artists agree that it's a struggle to gain recog- nition, but to have it last 50 years is staggering. What is the key to your success? PETER MAX: It's just being present, letting creativity come through. I'm lucky because we live in an age of media. When I was on the cover of Life 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 out there, and my work has been on 2,000 to 3,000 covers. Early in your career, you studied a lot of the masters, from Rembrandt to Sargent. So how did you develop your cosmic style? I used to draw, never even thinking it's something you could do [as a career]. In China, I studied with the daughter of a street artist. In Israel, my mother hooked me up with a famous art professor from Austria. After we moved to Paris, my mother signed me up for classes at the Louvre. 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 to study with him. Reilly went to that school 30 years earlier, and Norman Rockwell sat beside him. So Rockwell became Rockwell; Reilly became Peter Max's teacher. Then I hooked up with some people with art schools who were very design oriented. For someone who studied realism, your style is not exactly realistic… No, I'm kind of impressionistic. Realism gave me the skill to paint, but my eye was more into design-erish art. The Art Students League has produced some famous alumni—Jackson Pollock and Cy Twombly. Ever have any celebrity encounters? I once met Marilyn Monroe. I saw this girl walking by, and I did a double take. As she's walking by, she turns to me and says, "I like your pants"—I had a lot of paint on my pants—and then she kept on walking. She was so stun- ning; all her features were just perfect. WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS What do you think is your most defining piece? There are so many defining pieces. Painting the Statue of Liberty was a big 146 ASPENPEAK-MAGAZINE.COM 144-147_AP_F_PeterMax_V3_SUM_FALL_14.indd 146 5/6/14 5:19 PM

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