Max Kremer: Cliffhanger
Max Kremer loves nature. He walked into my backyard, eyes wide and nose open, taking in every inch of his new, green environment before sitting down to talk to me about his painting. Surrounded by fog, green grass and 10 ft. tall bamboo shoots, he mused, “It’s infinitely complex, no matter what scale you’re looking at it from, whether you’re looking at atoms, cells, organisms, super organisms, it offers different feelings and realizations.”
Kremer, currently a UT Studio Art student, hails from Houston (circa 1999) and has a penchant for using negative space, color and variable scale forms to mimic nature on canvas in his own unique way. His technique, specifically his awareness of light source, gradient, and texture, bring a fresh perspective to landscapes, and invite the viewer to define and enjoy their own space within the environment he creates. I sat down and picked his brain before his opening this Saturday at Houston’s Blank Check Gallery.
This interview has been shortened for brevity’s sake.
Blue Cliff. Acrylic on canvas.
negative space
I try to contain it and then define it. I use the color planes.. more to define the form of the mountain and to show depth. When you imagine something.. for me it’s kind of hard to think of the light source in it. I don’t think that’s necessary. It’s in your head, so whatever’s game.
process
It kind of builds itself overtime. I don’t exactly know what it’s gonna look like but I know the specific direction it’s headed in. As I work with it and I see things I want to have happen in the landscape, like if I want it to be more intense in an area, I can do that. For a while when I started doing art I only used pen on paper. Since you can’t really mess up when you do that, I had to learn to run with my mistakes and turn them into something that I wanted. I think that’s allowed me to be really confident in placing and altering the painting without having to throw down an exact image.
CC: Your mistakes have become a trusted part of your process.
MK: Exactly! Yea
Purple Forest. Acrylic on canvas.
inspiration
Nature, obviously, is what I really take a lot from. To me nature is the most wild thing ever. I’m down to go look at the trees and stuff for as long as I can.
In my old neighborhood back in Houston I used to just walk around pretty constantly. I like to be outside and walk around. To me, nature makes a lot of sense. Nothing is wrong with nature. Everything happens for a reason. It’s infinitely complex, no matter what scale you’re looking at it from, whether you’re looking at atoms, cells, organisms, super organisms, it offers different feelings and realizations.
Green Woods. Acrylic on canvas.
Why
It’s really hard to put some of the stuff I think into words. You can tall people, “Man, nature is awesome! It’s sick! Go look at trees!” And they’re like, “Alright stoner.”
I think, how everyone does, I use painting as a language to really show what I’m vibing with at the time. I don’t know how my career is going to change in the future or what I’ll end up venturing into. I’m really focused on refining my ability to speak that language. I’m really trying to get better at what I do and I’m excited about that. I’m excited about being better in the future.
I think it’s something that comes naturally too just as you progress while you paint. If you’re focused on being better, it happens. That’s how you have to do it because if you’re not into it, you’re not gonna make anything good and that’s just a fact.
Check out Max Kremer’s exhibition, Cliffhanger, while it’s on display at Blank Check Gallery.