The twilight years of the nineteenth century and the opening decades of the twentieth, were a bleak time for many. With the bulk of the population still living in abject poverty (my great-great grandmother actually died of exhaustion during the 1920s at the age of 38 after having 9 children) and the First World War having killed and maimed so many, it’s little surprise that the first Cubists painted in rather dark tones. Though, as the likes of Dylan Gill in Issue XI hinted at and as Max Hembrow here demonstrates through his use of vibrant colours and more fluid shapes, Cubism appears to be going through a new, more colourful and optimistic wave in the twenty-first century.
In this regard, whilst we may have treated feelings of intensity throughout this edition so far as dark surges of anxiety and anguish, just as those first Cubists may have, here we may view those emotions as something more positive. After all, as Max portrays through his work, intense emotions also come in the form of new ideas, eureka moments, seeing new places for the first time, discovering new subjects, enjoyment, music and bursts of enthusiasm – elements which, as we will uncover, underlie all of his most recent works.
Coming from a family of keen artists, Max was surrounded by large colourful paintings growing up, so a desire to create art is something he feels that he more or less ‘inherited’. Of course, this isn’t to say that people’s passions descend from their family members or their surroundings (I’m the first person in my family to remotely be interested in art, philosophy, theatre, or history for instance), though it’s fair to say that such influences go a long way. What perhaps goes further than familial interest, however, as Max shows us here, is encouragement and belief. ‘When I was around 5 years old I entered into a school competition where I had to draw a Christmas Card’ Max tells me, ‘it wasn’t anything special, just Santa Claus going down a chimney, but my father thought I had real potential, so he spoke to my art tutors about it and from then on I’ve pursued a passion for art’.
Nowadays Max no longer focuses so much on Christmas and Santa but Cubism and Cézanne, interests he developed whilst spending many a Summer in art schools across Europe as a lucky bugg- I mean, teenager. To Max, the most impactful of these institutions were the likes of the Paris School of Art where he completed a course on abstraction and artistic observation and the Florence Academy of Art where he was able to learn more about oil painting. For these are courses that have allowed him to continually develop upon what is perhaps his chief interest: Cubism. ‘During university we were encouraged to come up with conceptual ideas and I developed this notion that Cubism was very much an unfinished movement... it was a reaction to how I saw photography, as I believe that art is more
than just about replicating what we see with the human eye.
Photography defeated the purpose of just creating a portrait of someone which is what they did originally to document people’s faces... cubism shows the true breadth of the human mind, it’s not something AI could just create as you need that human influence...’ Max informs me, clearly implying that Cubism is something that requires a bit of a makeover. ‘My last exhibition was called ‘Cubism Reimagined’ whereby I reimagined what had been done previously... the first cubists used a lot of ochre tones; a lot of browns and blacks, but I kind of enhanced it by using very vibrant colours to make the pieces more lively... when the first cubists created their pieces it was a very dark time, after all, artworks often mirror the times we live in... the colours I put in to my works reflect our post-lockdown world of hope’. As well as post-lockdown emotions however, one of the greatest influences upon Max’s use of colour lies within one of the remote areas of our planet.
One of the only countries in the world where there are communities where the ancient Welsh language is spoken is, of course, Wales. Yet in one of the farthest flung corners of our planet – and this time I’m not referring to the likes of Aberystwyth or Anglesey in Wales – around 5,000 people also speak fluent Welsh: Patagonia. This incredibly isolated region is located in the centre of Argentina in South America and was inhabited by Welsh settlers in the late nineteenth century and later visited by Max and his older brother in the early twenty-first. It was here that Max cast his eyes upon what is deemed to be coloured in one of the most vibrant natural shades of blue on earth; the Perito Moreno Glacier. Interestingly, the blue colouring of the glacier isn’t a reflection of the sky but due to a chemical reaction that occurs within the ice that leads to an overtone of hydroxide. Regardless of the chemistry involved, however, Max was captivated by this colour and is one that he has attempted, as you can see, to incorporate into his works ever since. Indeed, you could go so far as to say that this blue vibrant colouring ultimately constitutes Max’s alternative style of cubism, yet this is to miss out upon the thoughts and theories that fundamentally underlie his works.
‘Although Cubism is often thought of as being mainly geometric shapes, my works aren’t always necessarily squares...’ Max tells me. ‘I frequently use a lot of mathematical formulas; I loved maths at school, especially all the equations and graphs... I’m not sure if you’ve heard of it, but I enjoy trying to incorporate this theory called the golden ratio; it was one that was conceived by Leonardo Da Vinci and it defines what the human eye considers to be aesthetically pleasing. The theory comes in the form of a spiral shape but if you measure each part then it makes up the shape of waves, hurricanes, the natural shape of shells on beaches, so it’s a natural formation. Interestingly, all the equations that go into this golden ratio have been used in ancient architecture, such as the Acropolis, the Pantheon in Rome, even the Pyramids’. Although artworks may be constructed in order to be aesthetically pleasing however, viewers also tend to like a story to go with them.
Of course, it’s far easier to tell the story; or quite literally bring it to life as some might say, if one is looking to create a realistic image or painting. Yet such storylines are made far more obscure when it comes to the likes of abstract and cubist pieces. This is something many an artist who has featured within the magazine, particularly those who curate installations and put together collages and surrealist works, has been aware of. At the end of the day, who’s to say what a seemingly random collection of marks and materials represents; indeed, you could say the viewer, but for those artists who wish to get their intended stories across then they rely not on art but literature. ‘I look at classical paintings and writings and I try to incorporate them into my works...’ Max says. ‘Myths also provide viewers with a good starting point;I mean if you look at some of Turner’s paintings it’s always about something [I assume Max is referring here to the works of Joseph Turner, an artist whose works were frequently imbued with classical themes and stories]’. In this regard, like many artists, Max utilises the likes of myths and legends as if they were a set of keys; ones which viewers can use to access the hidden stories within his pieces. Though, there is one form of storytelling that Max uses to construct his works that isn’t based upon literature at all, but rhythm.
‘A lot of my work is also based upon music’ Max expresses. ‘There’s a theory called synaesthesia whereby you see colours and shapes as you listen to music... I’ll sometimes listen to a song on Spotify for example and think “I’ll just paint to this and see what comes of it”. In that regard, my 2019 exhibition was called ‘synaesthesia’ which displayed paintings of mine that represented my interpretations of a variety of different songs...’. Yet whilst musical instruments, through his use of synaesthesia, does seem to help Max to develop his own unique form of Cubism, they also allow him to maintain Cubism’s traditional elements within his works – even if they don’t make a sound.
The lute, an old kind of wooden guitar, is something that often featured in the likes of Picasso’s works and those pieces created by earlier Romantics (this is a style by the way, these artists aren’t former lovers). In this regard, whilst Max may indeed be looking to reinvigorate Cubism, as a fan of both Picasso and earlier classical works, it’s little surprise that he looks to include pieces such as the lute within his artworks. In doing so however, Max isn’t just satisfying his own interests but also making a statement that his works are very much of the Cubist genre. To reinforce such traditional aspects and mix the old style of Cubism with that of his newer approach, moreover, Max also looks to incorporate elements of nature into his works. ‘Something also very interesting when you think about art history is that cubism was invented by Picasso and Braque as a result of looking at Cézanne’s paintings’ Max intelligently points out. ‘Cézanne was someone who interpreted nature through his cross-hatching of the landscape which he did in France, before moving on to his more dreamlike figurative pieces... this was the origin of Cubism and in interviews Picasso actually refers to how Cézanne’s works influenced him... so nature ultimately inspired Cubism’. Found within all these themes of nature, music, shapes and colours, however, is a form of intensity.
As hinted at during the opening of this article, Max’s vibrant pieces depict feelings of intensity, but positive ones, whether it be people kissing, intermingling, dancing or feeling a part of a ‘tribe’. Yet Max is also keen to point out that there’s a strong contradiction within his work between that of order and chaos; ying and yang; figurative and abstraction. Though, isn’t that what intensity is? A mix of fear, excitement, anger and anxiety? After all, it’s often said that love and hate are the same emotions – with one being as equally as intense as the other.
Max's other works can be found below, so be sure to check them out! Max's Instagram
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