Artist
Max Freund
Max is a Vienna-based abstract mixed-media artist, working across painting, printmaking and drawing. He is interested by texture and form as well as language, wordplay and semiotics. He graduated from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna in 2017 and has since then participated in various international exhibitions and residency programs.
The method of his painting is as much as important as the end result, enjoying the process of evolution and discovery that happens through each piece, he says: "Every series of work has moments of zooming in and out, detecting new cross-connections. I just start with anything and then let go."
Most of his ideas come up when listening to music, reading books, or from found materials on the street or in flea markets. He collects objects and builds an archive of interesting shapes, textures and objects which may seem insignificant or worthless to others, but to Max can be the catalyst for a series of works. For example his debut collection was inspired by a box of plasticine leftovers he found in his studio - instead of throwing them away, Max revelled in the interplay of texture and colour and ordered chaos within these small forms, sparking a moment of creativity which led to an entire series of works.
He says: "Sometimes I get very close to the original idea, but luckily through lots of experimentation and failure in the process I mostly go totally astray and find the real essence of the image."
Photography by Julie Brass
AVAILABLE ARTWORKS
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You Are The Prototype
"The ‘Prototype Paintings’ were originally loose A4 ink drawings. By accident I found a box full of plasticine leftovers. That’s where it all started. Instead of working out all the lines, forms and details as usual with thick oil colour, I partially applied the plasticine. Placing them next to chunky oil textures, raw canvas bits, scrap fabrics and the flatness of the paper and ink, creates a strange but yet familiar vibrant haptic interplay.
The term ‘Prototype’ actually came to my mind while listening to Outkast: I hope that you are the one; If not, you are the prototype; We'll tiptoe to the sun (…)." - Max Freund, You Are The Prototype
