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Max Presnem, 2011

The paintings summarize the experience of growing up in California through collages of images and meanings. They are influenced by Jean-Michel Basquiat's work through use of blocked color and odd shapes. The stencils reference DIY street art and territorialism to depict secret spots within subcultures. While related to Lowbrow art, the paintings are removed from corporate sponsorship and retain grittiness of the urban environment. They memorialize a lost youth in California through positive memories rather than being trapped in angst over aging.

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Arun AK
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81 views

Max Presnem, 2011

The paintings summarize the experience of growing up in California through collages of images and meanings. They are influenced by Jean-Michel Basquiat's work through use of blocked color and odd shapes. The stencils reference DIY street art and territorialism to depict secret spots within subcultures. While related to Lowbrow art, the paintings are removed from corporate sponsorship and retain grittiness of the urban environment. They memorialize a lost youth in California through positive memories rather than being trapped in angst over aging.

Uploaded by

Arun AK
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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They can also echo Jean-Michel Basquiat's work sub-divisions of blocked out color, the odd shaped supports

s and image-text relationships both illustrational and 'street at the same time, with a pictorial naivet that belies the complexity of their composition related via a jazz-like syncopation of style and rhythm, the dissonance and dislocation of odd juxtapositions. The stencils remind one of DIY street 'sign' and 'Locals Only territorialism, telling us of the 'secret spot' and the hermetic world of the sub-cultures they come from. They are related to the Lowbrow art movement but divorced from some 'street arts intimacy with corporate sponsorship. They retain the gritty urbanism and immediacy of the city environment panels of color and disparate images, like the cacophony of billboards along Sunset Blvd. They have an authenticity in their link to a real experience, albeit linked to a youth that has passed memorializing and fighting against the aging process (yes, people do age in California, too), but without being laden with the angst of its oncoming. Are they melancholic for a lost youth? I would say so. Who doesn't consider this regularly when one has passed the age of 40? But the paintings do not appear trapped within that lost world. Rather, they play with its positive vibes and memories to retain relevance for us and the Dave Tourje who exists now These works are assemblages of events and sources collages of images and meanings that show us the real experience of growing up in Californian at his point in history.

Max PresneM, 2011


Artist and curator Max Presneill has exhibited in New York, London, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Mexico City, Sydney, Istanbul, Paris, and other cities around the world. His paintings are represented by Durden and Ray Fine Art, Los Angeles. Presneill is currenUy Head Curator at the Torrance Art Museum and is the Founder and former Director of Raid Projects in Los Angeles (1998-2008). From 2005-8 he was the Director/Curator for the Mark Moore Gallery.

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