The art of photography can take years of work to finally achieve that satisfying impact of a professional artist. Rarely does anyone pick up a camera and immediately find the balance and proportion that comes with practice. Although Max Skeans never dreamed of being a skilled photographer, his lack of experience but self-provocation and a natural talent forced his hand when opportunity came knocking.
Abstract expressionism influence without the concerns of the non-objective content concerns is the way that Skeans describes his work. Printmaking capabilities and personal expression are what makes his work special. Thought provoking may be the term that Max’s viewers use when they stop and stand silent in front of a piece.
Skeans had barely started his college stint in experimental music composition, literature and writing when Kent State became a war zone. Eight years and several combat tours later, he picked up the pieces and went to work as a writer on environmental concerns for the Office of Chief of Public Affairs at the Pentagon. It was here that a local newspaper editor offered him a job as a full time photographer that included rebuilding a darkroom and providing full photo support for his paper.
In 1979, Max decided to pursue his original plans in art and signed up at the Fine Arts Department at the University of Florida. Hiram Williams, a senior teacher, referred to Skeans as a ‘painter inside a photographer’s body’ and went to work to set him free. Here he learned to plant his mind’s image on the goal and not the medium. Mixed media of conventional photography, drawing, painting and digitally captured images has been the result of UF’s influence on this artist turned photographer then turned artist once again.
Max has displayed his mixed media at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Chicago Art Institute, Ringling Museum and many other places. He is currently working on a project called ‘Sandra’s World’ and other sedulous pieces that can only be described as living in the analogue world of human experience.
Max lives in his hometown of Dayton, Ohio with his long-time companion, Sandra Goodrich and continues to fascinate the world with a style that has its own language. “My philosophy is to say as little as possible and allow the work to, well, do the work,” says Max, however to learn more about his extensive talents with and beyond the camera, see www.ohiosilver.com.
By Kate Garton
Editor’s note: For the print view version, see: www.scribd.com/doc/51675020/Portrait-of-Max-Skeans