Max Miller was born in 1980 to a family of artists and craftsmen.  His early years were characterized by constantly moving among various locations throughout North Carolina and Texas.  Drawing was a constant activity.  Max's parents would bring home reams of discarded paper, which he would set about covering with monsters.  His father began working as an art director in the movie industry when Max was very young; some of his earliest memories are of accompanying his father to the sets of various films.  The earliest painting Max remembers appreciating, apart from his fathers work, was a reproduction on canvas of ‘Saturn Devouring His Children’ by Francisco Goya.

In 1991 Max and his family moved to Charleston, South Carolina.  During adolescence, he continued drawing and gained an appreciation for the human form by copying superheroes from comic books.  In 1997, he was selected to attend the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts summer program.  The following year, Max began undergraduate studies at the College of Charleston.

Max's initial focus in college was sculpture, from which he branched into printmaking and photography.  One evening during his third year, he used some old brushes and burnt umber he'd found in the painting studio to rework a drawing. It was then that Max discovered an intense desire to devote himself to painting.  In 2001, he traveled to Spain and visited the Museo del Prado, where he finally saw the painting of ‘Saturn Devouring His Children’ in person.  Max was also exposed for the first time to the work of Jose Ribera, whose paintings are a continuing inspiration.  The next year, he was awarded the Visual Art Scholarship from the College of Charleston and graduated with a double B.A. in Studio Art and Art History.

For the next two years Max set about creating work for several solo exhibitions and group shows.  Yearning for more instruction in the realistic path he had begun to follow, he was pointed in the direction of the classical atelier tradition.  Max was accepted into the Charles H. Cecil Studios in Florence, Italy during the summer of 2004.  By January of 2005 he was teaching beginner sculpture at Cecil Studios in the morning, and studying painting in the afternoons.  Under Cecil his understanding of beauty, anatomy and composition were charged like never before.

Max left Cecil Studios the following year and moved to Boston, continuing to paint as he prepared for new exhibitions.  He now resides and works in Charleston, South Carolina where he is available for commissions. His work hangs in collections all over the world, from the eastern United States to Japan. Prominent commissions include doctors, bishops and actresses. 

 

Education

Charles H. Cecil Studios (Florence, Italy)                               

Student of Portraiture and Figure July 2004-June 2005

College of Charleston (Charleston, South Carolina)                     

Bachelor of the Arts                                                                           

Double Major in Studio Art and Art History

September 1998-December 2002

 

Professional Experience

College Of Charleston (Charleston, South Carolina)

Professsor Of Painting 2009

Eye Level Art (Charleston, South Carolina)  

Figure Class Teacher February 2009 --- Ongoing

Rhodes Art Center (Charleston, South Carolina)                         

Figure Class Teacher February 2008 --- November 2008

Redux Studios (Charleston, South Carolina)                                   

Artist Residency and Workshop Teacher August 2005

Charles H. Cecil Studios (Florence, Italy)                                

Portrait and Figure Teacher (Sculpture) January 2005-June 2005

Redux Studios (Charleston, South Carolina)                               

Founding Member Spring 2002

Untitled Gallery (Charleston, South Carolina)                            

Gallery Co-owner and Operator Fall 2000-Spring 2002

 

Solo Shows

Eye Level Art (Charleston, South Carolina)

January 2010 Farewell To Max

The Academy Of Art (Lynchburg, Virginia)

June 2009 Impermanence

Fauber Gallery (Lynchburg, Virginia)

February 2007  Humanity + Spirituality

Redux Studios (Charleston, South Carolina)

May 2006 Recent Portraits and Other Works

Gallery Two (Columbia, South Carolina)

June 2004 Maxed Out

The Charleston City Gallery (Charleston, South Carolina)

June 2003 Truce

The Charleston City Gallery (Charleston, South Carolina)

June 2002 In the Flesh

 

Selected Group Shows

 

LFB (Charleston, South Carolina)

November 2009 Kulture Klash

Eye Level Art (Charleston, South Carolina)

October 2009 Dark Arts Ball

Eye Level Art (Charleston, South Carolina)

Septemer 2009 24 Hour Art Lock-In

Fr3sh Art (Charleston, South Carolina)

July 2009 12 Hour Art Lock-In

Eye Level Art (Charleston, South Carolina)

June 2009 Ones and Zeros

LFB (Charleston, South Carolina)

April 2009 Kulture Klash

Eye Level Art (Charleston, South Carolina)

December 2008  Four Square

10 Storehouse Row (Charleston, South Carolina)

November 2008 Kulture Klash

Mark Gruber Gallery (New Paltz, New York)

February-March 2008 Nudes and Food

Artsee (Manhattan, New York)

October-November 2007 Figures, Land and Still

City Art (Columbia, South Carolina)

June-July 2007 School's Out

Center of the Earth Gallery (Charlotte, North Carolina)

November-December 2006 Tiny Treasures

The Arthouse (Charlotte, North Carolina)

October 2006 Assorted Candies

Casa Mirabella (Fiesole, Italy)

June 2005 Five Artists in Italy  

The Charleston City Gallery (Charleston, South Carolina)

April 2004 Best of Charleston            

Redux Studios (Charleston, South Carolina)

February 2004 Figuration