Liberty Head 1986

Here's Peter Max playing around with the Lady Liberty, probably in his studio, with acrylics. Look at how he's knocked her out with blocks and streaks of patriotic blues and reds. And all that soft pink and yellow in the background... I feel him, you know? You start a painting, and it's all about the gesture, the color, the surface. He’s not trying to make this perfect, classical sculpture. Instead, it’s Pop Art: a fast, loose rendering that's both critical and kind. What I see in the way he attacks this subject is not just the image of the statue, but the idea of freedom, of throwing your colors around like confetti. It’s that sense of joy, that 'anything goes' attitude, that makes me wanna grab a brush and dive right in. That’s what painters do, we see each other’s stuff, and we go yeah! Let’s do that, let’s mix it up, let's make something new.