Max may be too modest to brag about his own show (aside from a small announcement in a much larger thread) but I'm not.

Here it is:
Gerrard Art Space (http://gerrardartspace.blogspot.ca/)

The opening was today, and so I went and met Max in person, making him the 2nd ehMac'er (after MacDoc) I'd met in person. There was a good crowd there when I arrived, and a really great buzz about the place, so it clearly has the mark of a very successful opening.

In any case, it was a terrific show and it continues for another 2 weeks, so I encourage all Toronto ehMac'ers to head on down and take a look.

Max may be too modest to brag about his own show (aside from a small announcement in a much larger thread) but I'm not.

Here it is:
Gerrard Art Space (http://gerrardartspace.blogspot.ca/)

The opening was today, and so I went and met Max in person, making him the 2nd ehMac'er (after MacDoc) I'd met in person. There was a good crowd there when I arrived, and a really great buzz about the place, so it clearly has the mark of a very successful opening.

In any case, it was a terrific show and it continues for another 2 weeks, so I encourage all Toronto ehMac'ers to head on down and take a look.


Cool. Sonal the Wise has presented a fine artist in our midst. Sadly, TO is too far away for me to go and see this show.

However, from what I saw on this site, job well done, Max. Kudos, mon ami. :clap::clap::clap:

Thanks Sonal. Keeping my fingers crossed that I will be able to take a trip to Toronto before Max's show closes!

Thanks Sonal!

Max - I really like the pieces that I could see in the photos! The color and shapes draw me right in. I can only imagine that in person, the textures are visually tangible too.

Have an awesome show!

It looks to me like the show is off to a fine start. Well done Max!

Good on you Max, Hope you have lots of good fortune.
I've been invited to show my work here in Toronto and L.A.,
But I haven't been able to get my act together yet,
Glad to see you have though.

Cheers!

:)

Max!

Supermundoterrifico!

Well done and congratulations.

I'll have to get to it while it's on, I didn't know. Between today's festivities and a show of my own tonight, I missed the opening today.

I have met Max, he's a great person.

Waiting to hear Max give his impression (no pun intended).
Good luck Max!

Dropped in on the opening. I'll post my review later. Most important, I know people are wondering- Max splurged on good beer for the opening (although I had to pass). It was Steam Whistle.

The pictures make me miss being there even more. Wah!

Hope it's a great run for you, Max.

Sonal, it was a great pleasure to meet you, too! I am touched you came to the opening - and you certainly caught me on a good day. We were blown away by the reception the show and the gallery itself has been getting from the locals. I'm surprised to find myself up again so early in the morning - guess I'm still jazzed by the day's events. Exhausted, but in a good way. Good thing I do these events only once every few years... they can be quite taxing - not so much the event itself but the lead-up to it.

Fell: dang, you didn't introduce yourself - a stealth visit! I would have liked to meet you - I have only met two or three handful of Ehmac'ers in the flesh. Well, I hope you enjoyed what you saw.

Thank you all for your good wishes. Cheers!

My one minute review.
The gallery was packed, both with people and art works. There must have been 30-40 people when I arrived, and I'm guessing more than 60 o- 70 works on the walls. For a brand new gallery, there will be a big wall repair effort when the show comes down. I'm not familiar with that end of town, but the location seems favourable, right on the corner, busy active streets with lots of pedestrian traffic.

I did meet Max, shook hands and introduced myself, he did seem a bit underwhelmed with our meeting, no matter, there were lots of people and lots of meetings going on for him. We had a brief discussion about one piece that caught my attention, a sort of tribute or memorial for a family member. Max reiterated some of the themes and philosophies in his (very down to earth and readable) artist statement, very genuine.

Logistically, I had a hard time imagining Max's work space or process. Even small pieces have layer on layer, meaning they were worked simultaneously over a length of time, and with odd shapes and dimensional forms, they have to laid out each in its own space. Either he has a huge studio space or his studio space is very organized.

I was a little surprised at first, my initial impression was that the work had a landscape base, almost a pastoral feel. I would have expected something more urban feeling, based on some of the photography Max has posted. However, once I had a few looks around, I started to see more line, hard edge breaks within the layers, a more structural and architectural feel.

Many of the pieces are painted wood, fragments of boards or mouldings, there were 2-3 pieces that looked like they were painted on boards from an old table or door, complete with dowel peg sticking out. Smaller pieces had the look of artifact, embellished with bits of hardware, remnants of cloth. Some pieces may have had cloth used as stencil or pressed into the paint. Several pieces had letter stencil or wood block letter embellishments.

Max's woks seems more about process than image. The works suggest and trigger other thoughts and ideas. I found myself being reminded of other works and artists I have seen. Looking at the works along the west wall made me think of the (surprising) Pollock piece from the AB EX show last summer- Easter And The Totem.
I enjoyed the grouping on the south wall of the back gallery and the alcove on the east wall, the Northumberland series I think, and particularly the tribute/memoir piece with the garment tag, as mentioned earlier.
One piece I found slightly different from the others was the big canvas at the front window. I'm not sure how it was different.

Leaving the show I headed back into the core along Gerrard and Dundas, I got the feeling of the urban aspect of Max's show. All the overlapping signs, mixes of colours and shapes, layers, fragmentation, buildings in transition, tearing down and rebuilding.
Congratulations on having the opening show.

Oh, okay! I remember you now. You asked about the small Northumberland piece that was not for sale and I explained why. My sister was nearby, as I recall. Cool, that was you. Sorry, I was talking to a lot of people yesterday and I'm not always very graceful when it comes to dealing with the public at these affairs. If I gave any offence, I regret that. I am always happy when people are interested in my work. It's merely that a really busy opening can be a bit daunting to get through. I often think that if I could use words alone I wouldn't need to paint. So at some point words themselves do not address why painting exists - or music, or sculpture, or many other things for that matter.

I think you gave a good description of the event. And yes, I think you're right in saying that my work is about process. But the final image is still very important to me; it's just that it usually offers a great degree of latitude in letting the viewer decide what it is or what it means. I'm fine with that - my themes are not something I boldly declare - I try to work them in as subtexts... I would rather people's senses be grabbed first, and let their intellect process what they're seeing and feeling.

And I'm glad you saw the urban aspects of my work. I am keenly aware of being a painter living in a large city - someone who loves many organic things yet lives in a world of hard edges and right angles. I strive to unite both the synthetic and the natural - between the products of homo sapiens and civilization and the ecosphere which shelters us all. That connection is perhaps a bit esoteric - it's not necessarily something a viewer would think about when looking at my work - but I like the tension between the two realms.

Anyway, Fell - thanks for coming. If you ever want to come out my way again, I'd be happy to meet up for a coffee or a beer and discuss stuff. Cheers.

Thanks for the nicely descriptive review fellfromtree. You've had a look for those of us who wish to but cannot be there and you've related it well. It really provides a solid sense of Max's works and the overall feel of the show.

Fellfromtree: I just showed my wife your "one minute review." She said it was lovely and regrets not having met you that day. Perhaps another time...?

She just egged me on to post a link showing some of the pieces in the gallery and of the opening day. So... here goes. (http://www.themaxman.ca/gas.html)

Thank you to Mrs. Max for the egging on of Max. I appreciate the opportunity for a better look at the pieces. I watched the slide show through at least 4 times, probably more.

What I see:
Many of your works are quite intriguing Max. The slide show goes too fast for me and doesn't allow my eyes to travel around each piece as long as they want before the image is torn away. Hmmph.

In more than a few pieces I get the sense of organic shape and color overcoming industrial or other orderly structure. The organic however, is not without its own natural order or process and provides movement. This is both complimentary and contrasting to the harder, static elements.

I would enjoy having many of these pieces hanging around my spaces so I could explore them to my content.

Thank you, KC4! This show has been the culmination of a couple of years' worth of really slogging away in the studio and it draws inspiration from some new sources for me. It's been good to finally make it public, get some feedback.

Ahh yes, slide shows. A bit problematic. Either I set the interval too slow or too fast - it's hard to satisfy everyone. Lately I've left it at fast because I had been using the site as reference in applying for film and TV jobs. The people who were interviewing me tend to want thing to go by fast so that they feel they're making efficient use of their time. But I agree with you. I just changed the setting from 5 seconds to a more reasonable 8. Try again when you feel like it and let me know if that's more like it.

I'm kind of sitting on the fence... the application I used to design the site is one I want to move away from. When I have some free time I'd like to rebuild it from the ground up and one of the things I'd like to get rid of is slideshows altogether. I think there has to be better interfaces out there but I've really not researched it.

Anyway KC4, thanks again for taking a look. Cheers!

Hey Max- My review was originally a bit longer but just as I was about to post- poof, and I had to recall and retype the whole thing. Looking at your slideshow, I recalled a few things from my original attempt.

I was intrigued by the surfaces of the works. They are thick, but not impasto. More akin to the qualities of encaustic, clearly layered, but smooth and even. Quite interesting. Also (this is a pet peeve of mine), your wood pieces were well finished, or 'finished' with some craftsmanship. I find many artists and craftspeople who work with found object or salvaged wood don't seem to be aware of the practical aspects of the materials.
I thought the show was technically very expertly hung (another of my obsessions). I don't recall noticing any hanging devices, hooks or wires. That's impressive considering the odd shaped and sized objects (I spend an inordinate amount of viewing time at shows trying to look at the hanging devices and framing elements. I saw the Hockney iPad show at the ROM and spent half my time looking at/ mentally redesigning the display hardware).

Looking at your slideshow, I get a more intense 'Canadiana' vibe, something I felt with the opening viewing, but reinforced just now. I was thinking Jean McEwan, Paterson Ewan. With the canvas works, I 'm wondering if you've ever done any lithography. Also, along the urban theme, the middle canvas on the west wall reminded me of the louvered billboards you see around town, the way the image doubles and fragments as the image turns.

Excellent slideshow. I encourage anyone within distance to go see the show, or go to any gallery, go gallery hopping. It's free. You can go to any commercial gallery, stay as long as you want, look at local, regional, national and international art for free. Nobody will bother you, nobody will pressure you to buy anything, and they will be pleased to answer any question, no matter how simple or complex. One question I often ask gallery staff- How do you pronounce the name of this gallery? No question too small or big or dumb. Go see original art in person. Books and web (and reproduction prints) are a good reference, but no substitute for the real live experience of seeing art in person.

Ahhh better, thanks Max. Even better would be the ability to click through at my own pace. Some I'd stay minutes or much longer.


I really like that one of the near circle /C shape on-its-back. Totally engrossing. What is it? Don't tell me. I prefer the intrigue. Is it a caterpillar? A half eaten donut? No, No, let me keep thinking. .... ..

it's... whatever you want it to be. That's the beauty of it. Funny thing is, that's one of the older paintings in the show. In a much earlier incarnation, it was in a group show - you would likely have recognized it - just! Truth is I was unhappy with it almost as soon as I thought I had finished it. Finally, last month I proceeded to radically alter the sucker. Now I think I nailed it. It was bugging me for years, that one. Sometimes that's the way it goes.

Yeah, I suppose what I could do is turn the auto slide show function off altogether. I think I'll do that. You're then obliged to click through manually. But at least you can contemplate individual slides for however long you wish.

Congratulations on your show Max. And I hope you see more than a few little red dots -- if that is your aim.

The work looks great, I like your use of colour and I'm a sucker for painterly abstract painting. De Kooning was my hero back in art school, back when I was going to be a great abstract-expressionist painter in my youthful dreams. Never got off my fat ass enough to actually do the work though. It's great to see that you have.

Max, thanks for the slideshow. There was one piece in particular that the both of us liked very much, but the wedding budget this year does not stretch to buying art--so it's very nice to be able to see it again this way. :)

it's... whatever you want it to be. That's the beauty of it. Funny thing is, that's one of the older paintings in the show. In a much earlier incarnation, it was in a group show - you would likely have recognized it - just! Truth is I was unhappy with it almost as soon as I thought I had finished it. Finally, last month I proceeded to radically alter the sucker. Now I think I nailed it. It was bugging me for years, that one. Sometimes that's the way it goes.
Yes, I know that feeling of being unhappy with finished work. Harder to rework watercolors though...but I have a pile of them anyway...awaiting re-inspiration or re-incarnation.

Your reincarnation of the wonderful whutzit was certainly a success. How big is that piece?
Yeah, I suppose what I could do is turn the auto slide show function off altogether. I think I'll do that. You're then obliged to click through manually. But at least you can contemplate individual slides for however long you wish.
Perfect. When it comes to viewing art, there are few things more frustrating for me than a guided group tour through a gallery or a museum. I'm either left behind or sneaking ahead.

Max, thanks for the slideshow. There was one piece in particular that the both of us liked very much, but the wedding budget this year does not stretch to buying art--so it's very nice to be able to see it again this way. :)

Sonal, I always like the ideas of my paintings going into a good home. Perhaps we can make an arrangement yet - an Ehmac special, if you will. PM me if you're at all curious. Cheers.

GA: so far I've sold a quarter of the show. I've sold 4 since the opening, which is rare. A bit of an international thing happening too, which is a first for me. One client's in Grenada; another one, a woman I've never met, has bought two small panels and I'm now coordinating shipment to Munich. So I'm tickled. But I'm about to go back to work in the real world and my output as a painter will be again severely dented - I'll continue to do it on weekends and that will have to do until the new gig ends.

De Kooning is a giant, thought the tumultuous violence of his brush work tends to disturb me. I'm more a fan of Hans Hoffman - like De Kooning, a tremendous vivacity of paint handling, very physical - but it feels more harmonious to me.

Your reincarnation of the wonderful whutzit was certainly a success. How big is that piece?

It's about 24" x 30", KC4. Kind of a middling size from the show's perspective. Smallest piece is about 3" x 5", largest two are 7' x 3' and 6' x 6'.

So . . . how did it go?