Max Hammond

From the time he was four years old Max Hammond was destined to paint, as he began on the walls of his home, a budding muralist. As he ran along the edges of the salt marshes of the Great Salt Lake, he was struck by the inescapable solitude of the vast stretches of this area, from the absolute flatness of the salt flats to the surreal quality of the marshes. It was this desolate landscape he began to paint in college. Earning a B.F.A. at the University of Utah, Hammond was formally trained, emphasizing classical figure drawing in addition to his love for landscapes. After winning a trip to Mexico for six weeks, this rural boy was struck by the way the Mexicans used undiluted colors to bringlife to what appeared to be stark living conditions. It was at this point that color began to take on a new life in his paintings.

Hammond left Utah to begin a M.F.A. in painting at Arizona State University where he won the prestigious Nathan Cummings travel award throughout Latin America, where he was again saturated in a world of color and ancient abstraction. Following his thesis show, he was invited to join the Elaine Horwitch Galleries where he met with instant success. His work is widely collected, and appears in the permanent collections of the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Finova Corp., the City of Scottsdale, and the City of Mesa among others. Hammond has had solo shows nearly every year for the past twenty five years. His current work occasionally returns to the figures he originally painted where he weaves in and out of abstraction, sometimes almost recognizable, then blurring to pure color, form and texture.

Education

1989-1992 M.F.A. Arizona State University  Painting

1988-1984 B.F.A. University of Utah  Painting and Drawing  Magna Cum Laude 

Exhibitions

2014 LA ART Show, Historical | Modern | Contemporary

2013 Bonner David Galleries solo show

2013 Art Santa Fe, international art show

2012 Bonner David Galleries solo show

2011 San Francisco Fine Art Fair

2009 Bonner David Gallery solo show

2008 Bonner David Gallery solo show

2007 Bonner David Gallery solo show

2006 Bonner David Gallery solo show

2004 Bonner David Gallery show

2003 Cold Storage Gallery, Solo show

2003 Celebration of Fine Art

2002 Cold Storage Gallery, Solo show

2002 Modified Arts, PHX AZ 2 person show

2001 Another point of View Solo Exhibition

2001 Cold Storage Gallery, Solo show

2000 Modified Arts, PHX, AZ 2 person show

1999 Wolfryd Selway Gallery, LA. CA Solo Exhibition

1997 New School for the Arts, Group show, Scottsdale, AZ

1997 Union Gallery, Solo Exhibition, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

1996 New Directions Gallery, Solo Exhibition, Scottsdale Center for the Arts

1995 University of Utah, Rolapp show

1994 Plotkin Judaica Museum, Legacy

1994 Arizona State University, Alumni show

1994 Elaine Horwitch Gallery, shelter show

1994 Elaine Horwitch Gallery, small work show

1994 Elaine Horwitch Gallery, Solo Exhibition, Scottsdale, Arizona

1993 Food Descending the staircase, Scottsdale Center for the Arts

1993 Elaine Horwitch Gallery, Solo Exhibition, Scottsdale, Arizona

1992 Small pieces show, Elaine Horwitch Gallery

1993 Positive/Negative 9, Slocumb gallery, TN

1992 M.F.A. Thesis Show, Harry Wood Gallery, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ

1992 Art Detour/Art Link, Phoenix AZ

1991 Finders Keepers Mesa Galleria,  Mesa, AZ

1988 Utah 88 Salt Lake Art Center, Salt Lake City, Utah

1988 Springville Art Museum Exhibition, Springville Art Museum, Springville Utah

1988 Painting Show, Eccles Art Center, Ogden, Utah

1987 Painting Show, Eccles Art Center, Ogden, Utah

Public Art Projects

2003 Red Mountain Public Library, City of Mesa

1998 Urban Design Studio, City of Scottsdale

Awards/ Scholarships

1992 Liquitex Materials Grant

1991 Nathan Cummings Travel Fellowship

1991 Graduate Tuition Scholarship, Arizona State University

1990 Graduate Tuition Scholarship, Arizona State University

1989 Graduate Tuition Scholarship, Arizona State University

1990 Graduate College Scholarship, Arizona State University

1988 Rolapp Award, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah

1988 Monterrey Travel Award, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah

1987 Mexico Travel Award, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah

1987 Departmental Scholarship, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah

1986 Mary Fuller Scholarship, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah

1985 Ann M. Cannon Fellowship, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah

Teaching Experience

2006 Shemer Art Center, Phoenix AZ  Drawing

1991 Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona. Drawing

1990 Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona. Drawing, 2-D Design

Collections 

Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art

Neiman Marcus

Nordstrom Store Scottsdale

Finova Corp

City of Scottsdale

Montgomery Insurance Co. IA

Harding Marketing

Red Mountain Public Library

Desert Samaritan Hospital, Cardiac unit 

Banner Heath Hospital Mesa, Oncology unit

Law firm of James Brown

Law firm of Roska, Heyman & DeWulf

Usinger's Sausage, Milwaukee, WI

American Republic Insurance Co. IA

Cole-Taylor Financial Group, IA 

Articles

2009 Luxe Magazine, Volume 11 Issue 1  Journey on; an artist finds his proverbial way.

2009 Desert Living Magazine, Jan In Living Color, Artist Q&A with Max Hammond

2009 Phoenix Home and garden , July Sitting Pretty

2008 Phoenix Magazine

2005 Phoenix Home and Garden  May, Abstract Vision Painter Max Hammond 

1994 Phoenix Home and Gardens, May, Max Hammond's Magic Boxes

1993 Art Talk, Nov. pp 29 

1993 Scottsdale Progress Tribune, Nov 25 pp11 Bright colors fill Mesa Artists works

1993 Arizona Republic Sunday, Dec 5

1993 pp6 Artist discovers magic in life affirming work

1993 Phoenix Home and Garden, Nov. Craftsman and comfort

1991 Tribune Newspapers, March 3, E4 Galeria Mesa Finders Keepers creates Art from discards

1991 Winter Visitor Independent, Feb 27 Galeria Mesa to open Finders Keepers