MAX WERNER
Born in Ghent Belgium, currently residing in the USA.Studied Fine Art at the Byam Shaw School of Art, London, and the Slade School of Art, University College London.Later taught printmaking in both schools until 1990 when he set up his own etching workshop in London.In 1997 Max Werner moved to Argentina, and until 2003 worked with Art House Gallery in Buenos Aires.Traveling extensively across the different regions of Argentina, he produced a body of work consisting in its majority of large landscapes painted on canvas, although a lot of those landscapes contain observations of the various rural activities of those regions, such as cattle auctions, gauchos and their horses, etc.
In 2003, he moved to the USA , there he reverted back to a more familiar way of working.Max Werner in fact, uses quite a wide range of different ideas. Their common thread is that they all tell a story.Often triggered by simple observation of his immediate environment such as landscapes, Max Werner seems to love the challenge of an unusual composition, and the capturing of the diversity of light in the various places he travels to.”His paintings are rarely painted on the spot, but instead painted in his studio a few weeks later, with the help of many sketches and photos, but not sticking to the recorded reality.The end result is an image which evokes a mood, and which conveys what the artist felt at the time, rather than a faithful representation of the place described. This in turn invites the viewer to reflect.
Perhaps to understand his work better, it is interesting to note that one of Werner’s favourite artist is Magritte: “ There is something about Magritte’s surrealism especially, which I find very interesting. This one step away from reality, a juxtaposition of things which sometimes also occurs in real life. When it does and you pay attention to it, it creates a situation that can be in turn funny quirky, or absurd. For me this is a constant source of inspiration.”
ARTIST STATEMENT
My work has been variously described as realist, figurative, descriptive and narrative. Sometimes even as having a touch of surrealism.I don’t think it can be limited to just one of those adjectives, and yet each one of them has an element of truth in it.
The fact of the matter is that I seem to use a range of different ideas, which don’t seem connected with each other at first.This sometimes creates a problem for the viewer, as often artists are categorised and presented to the public with a “label”.I am not a landscapist, a surrealist, or a realist etc… yet perhaps, I am all those things at the same time.
The connection between the images I create, is the approach to the composition, the way I treat the light, the emphasis on the unusual, the angle, the humour sometimes…Each image tells a story, and as such perhaps deserves the term descriptive or narrative. The landscapes for instance are not always an exact representation, as I might add elements to it which were seen only later on .Usually, they are painted in my studio, weeks later, after having spent a lot of time sketching it, and photographing it, often on the move ( sometimes on the back of a horse as in Wyoming), so that I am totally immersed in it, and that way it is stills fresh in my memory when I actually start the painting.As in the landscapes, the other categories of images are also based on observation.An idea starts in my head, I follow it up by going sketching in public places, like museums , libraries, cafes, etc… which in turn feed my imagination, and steers me in a direction I had not always anticipated.It is a part of the work I really enjoy, as it is a bit like going on an adventure, not knowing what’s at the end.
The final result of all this, is an image which I hope conveys what I felt at the time, suggests a story, and invites the viewer to reflect, smile, and basically enjoy him or herself watching my work…
Perhaps it is worth mentioning Rembrandt, Vermeer, Turner, Toulouse –Lautrec, Charles Russell, Edward Hopper, René Magritte, Hergé, and Bartolomeo Dos Santos, as the artists who most inspire me, and whose work I consistently go back to for help.
A WORD ABOUT THE TINTINS
It is difficult to understate the popularity of Tintin, or Herge its creator, in Belgium in the 1950 and 60s. The adventures of Tintin certainly had a strong presence in my childhood world, and never really left me.The amazing thing about those stories, is that you can enjoy them first as a child, and then later as an adult. One discovers different aspects which hadn’t been noticed, like the humour for example. I remember when re- reading “Tintin in Tibet” as a teenager for instance, being surprised at how funny it also was.
Then there are the plots which are quite fantastic, in the same league as Jules Vernes, taking you sometimes as far as the moon and back!But it is when I was at art school that I dicovered yet another element of Herge’s talent.I had always admired his drawings of course, but I came to understand better why it was so good. The composition of each image is often a picture in itself, the use of light and dark, the “clair obscurs” often used in the night scenes.One only has to think of the blue night in “ Les bijoux de la Castafiore” when Tintin hides in a chest in an attic one night, to investigate a mysterious noise.It is especially those type of images which started influencing a lot my own work. To the point that my teacher at the Slade suggested I should “exorcise” it, and do a work with Tintin as the subject. This is how I came with the idea of a series of 15 etchings entitled “Hommage a Herge”.I selected 15 stories, and decided to try and condensate the whole book in one image, relying a lot on my childhood memories as to how I felt about the story. For example in “The 7 cristal balls” I used the picture of the mommy smashing one of those cristal balls on the floor. The images of the mommy creeping up the window of Tintin’s bedroom while he was asleep, have haunted me ever since I first saw them.I decided not to use the image of Tintin, or any of the other characters, since the image I wanted to create was a personal impression based on each of the stories.
10 box sets where edited in conjuction with the Gallerie 2016 in Brussels, each etching being numbered from 1 /10,in the first set, 2/10 in the second etc.
The Fondation Herge owns the first set.