Peter Max Essay

503 Words3 Pages

Peter Max is known as one of the most popular pop artists in today’s art circles. His work is easily recognized by bold and uncommon color and line choices, as well as the wide uneven brush stroke found in the majority of his work. “Vase of Flowers Series 60 Detail Ver. VI #40” is representative of Max’s work as a whole. It possesses the gradients, rustic brush strokes and the unusual color choices and gradients that have become characteristic of his style. This painting is able to redefine the “still life” painting; Max’s piece is abounding with movement and energy seen most easily in the choice of color as well as brush stokes. In order to analyze a piece of artwork, it is imperative to understand where and how the creator was raised. Peter …show more content…

VI #40”, the lessons about color learned in his youth can be seen clearly. Starting with the background of the piece Max chose to use blues, pinks, greens and purples in varying pastel hues. He melts these colors together in a gradient implying a shadow with the darker colors in the far edges and the lightest color in middle. The softness of the colors in the background contrast largely solidity and uniformity of the objects in the middle ground and foreground, making the objects in these zones draw more focus. The objects in the middle ground are filled with solid colors in the same blues, pinks, greens and purples but with a more vibrant hue which again adds more attention to these objects, and differentiates them from the background. Moving to the foreground, the colors Max chooses become even more vibrant and bold. When looking at the flowers themselves, different colors are blended and swirled to create more dimension and depth. Lighter colors are used to show where light hits the flowers, which is focused in the middle. The darker colors are used as a continuation of the shadow from the background, concentrated again around the edges of the flower