We’re looking forward to introducing you to Max Presneill. Check out our conversation below.
Hi Max, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to share your story, experiences and insights with our readers. Let’s jump right in with an interesting one: What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
As I tend to be hyper-focused when it comes to making art or curating I find 4 things that allow space in my head to reset and relax a bit.
I love watching movies (and am pretty tasteless in liking all sorts of crappy films), particularly sci-fi and fantasy or monster movies. I can still find that childish wonder in dinosaurs 🙂
I also read every day. It is easy to block out the real world and find a new world to inhabit. I tend to like epic, multi-book series, that I can follow for years and read multiple books at the same time. Again, I tend towards sci-fi/fantasy books with world building narratives.
Thirdly, when I ride my Harley motorcycle it is a very freeing experience of being totally in the moment. When I ride long distance, to places like NYC, Atalanta or New Orleans, it is tiring and physically challenging, but it is great to see the country, have strange experiences, to confront the weather. I have ridden through tornadoes and lightning storms – which are frightening but afterwards are life-affirming. Thinking can follow weird avenues during a ride and new ideas can flow.
Last, but not least, I still go dancing about once or twice a month, especially to Northern Soul. I love the music and surrender to the tunes and exhaust myself on the dance floor.
Time disappears for me during these activities. I am refreshed mentally. I don’t think I find myself (as I seldom lose myself) but I can revitalize myself and return to art with renewed energy and attention.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am a painter and curator.
As an artist I make large scale abstract paintings, with elements of figuration, in intense, colorful and energetic cacophonies. I show my work around the world – about 15-20 exhibitions per year and am represented by a number of galleries worldwide. My shorter statement reads: The paintings function as discursive formations between images, gestures, signs, symbols, in a fluid, contingent and multi-layered network of meanings and possible relationships. They incorporate, on the same picture plane, a mixture of historical reference, auto-biography and sub-cultural content in a shifting soup of knowledge, conjecture, opinion, guesswork, and the irrational. This interpenetration occurs when the histories of abstract mark making, an ongoing developing iconography and sub-cultural motifs are placed in relationships on the picture plane. The ‘arena’ of the picture plane (although implying one section of an infinite extension via hinted at grids), is a site of conflict for a merging of emotional states, conceptual ideas, memories and autobiography, where the notion of knowledge and understanding is contested. The connections between ‘events’ within that space create potential new relationships of meaning that accept uncertainty and the possibility of failure.
Hope that helps 🙂
As a curator I run the Torrance Art Museum (with an awesome team – Sue-Na Gay and Jorin Bossen, Mark Fisher and others and major support from Monica Harte), a small contemporary art museum in the South Bay Area of Los Angeles. We have quite an innovative approach to our mission, in support of artists, not as gatekeepers. We select 1 artist per year and send them, covering costs, to an artist-in-residence program in Greece. We turn the Museum into a studio for about 12 artists, for 1 month, every 2 years. There are a number of workshops we present that support artists – how to connect and network in the art world, how to set up and run an artist-run space, etc. We do a lot of political shows in response to the current climate as well as try and have as international a perspective as possible within our small budget, bringing artists from around the world to Torrance. We are particularly interested in emerging artists and expanding those shown at an institutional level for the first time.
Within this context we also run TRYST, the world’s largest art fair for alternative galleries and artist-run groups – the only one in the world that is free to participate in for accepted spaces (and we pay the hotel bills for those spaces from out of state or international). We also run NOMAD, a gigantic pop-up exhibition that tries to bring LA artists together from all levels of success, intent, and backgrounds. It is a community builder more than anything else.
I am also part of the 4 person team that runs BLAM (with Carl Baratta, Daniel Wiesenfeld and Laura Resendiz) – a project that brings together artist-run spaces from Berlin, Los Angeles and Mexico City. Last year in Berlin we had 55 galleries showing. This year in October we all show in Mexico City and next year the circus comes to LA.
As the Founder of Raid Projects (1998-2008) and Durden & Ray (2009-current), both alternative galleries, I have had a long term belief in the importance of these spaces for artists. A lot of my attention is directed to building these and having TAM as a support system for artist-run spaces across the world.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who taught you the most about work?
As most of my life the jobs I have had were self-formed I feel mostly self-taught, work-wise. As a working class boy the horizon seemed quite far away and options limited. I did not want to follow a regular path so tried to find my own. Trying different things taught me a lot and to believe that being happy in doing ‘life’ was more important than money. I was a club DJ, a free-lance graphic designer, a barman, a rave promoter and many other things. All can teach you something if you pay attention.
Eventually I went back to school and got an undergrad degree in sculpture. I immediately applied for a Master’s degree in painting and was very lucky. The Head of Department, John Hyatt, got me onto the course although it had already started and was full (and I had not taken the required year off, which was expected). I badgered him into meeting with me and he saw something worth supporting. I started the next week. His encouragement, insights and support really awakened me. I saw more opportunities, greater depths to strive for, to think deeper, and came to believe that I could make things happen. It was John’s mentorship that contributed the significant source for what came after.
My first teaching job was offered to me by John, at Manchester Metropolitan University. It was an innovative MFA type program where experimenting was encouraged. I ended up on a few University faculty’s over the years from this start. It impressed my parents, at last! It gave me a sense of direction, after a history of footloose flaneur, party boy antics. Eventually I left teaching to work solely in the art world.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
No. Determination is worth more than talent. Art is a marathon, not a sprint. I refuse to give up. At the base of this thinking is that trying is worthy even if failure occurs. Failure can be a learning process that helps success next time. It can be hard! Being a penniless artist was hard but I wanted it more than an easy life. I tried to live how I wanted, not to the expectations of others. Trust that you can make a difference but get out there and give it a go. Nothing happens if you don’t. Being stubborn and focused helps and a willingness to go all the way, to keep at it, is core. Not being afraid of failure, to not let others decide your path, to find new solutions and be adaptable seem to me important ways to face life.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
A difficult one to answer, as who knows what others think of you. Those few that know me best, I hope would say, is that I value friendship, loyalty and trust. I love those closest to me for their honesty, integrity, fun, and care. Being able to be myself around them, have fun and experience the joys of being around them. My wife, LaLena Lewark, is the barometer I measure everything else with. If something gets difficult I ask myself if it affects my relationship with her – and mostly it doesn’t, so I don’t stress too much about it.
The need to be able to act independently, to try new things and keep things lively and interesting is important. Never settle into a rut. Change things up. I think my friends see that and support it.
Work related, I care about genuine support for artists, not just exhibitions. Opening opportunities for more artists, at all levels of career. Art should be a community of people who care about this thing of ours. How do we support them? Forget career building for myself, gatekeeping, working with big names and reputations, being seen by peers. Curators are there to support artists, not the other way around. I care about serving that community.
My own sense of ethics and integrity are very important to me, even when I disagree with others. Speak the truth, regardless. Be your own person. Be irreverent and unpretentious. Be open to rethink things. My close friends know me pretty well, I think…
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
That I was a genuine person, honest and ethical, and always there when needed. That they would forgive my ‘occasional’ bluntness. That I tried to affect change and support, in my little corner. I would love it if people admired my paintings into the future! They are my immortality after all.
Too many people think I know everyone – not true – and I wish I did. It would be nice if people thought they should have known me 🙂
I hope that artists I have worked with will recognize that I was a supporter and helped them on their career path. That I tried to leave the world a little better than when I arrived and helped some people become what they wanted to be.
For my friends – That I was fun and worth knowing and that their world will be a little less bright when I am gone.
Making a difference is legacy and I tried to make a mark there, however successfully. Remember me for the effort 🙂
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.maxpresneill.com
- Instagram: maxpresneill
- Linkedin: maxpresneill
- Facebook: Max Presneill
Image Credits
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