Max Cole is an American painter best known for her gray-toned canvases. Her paintings suggest an approach to infinity through the use of vertical repetitive lines, a record of intense focus that is said to contain energy as embedded content. Cole describes this process, which she has worked in for over 50 years, as meditative. Though sometimes compared to the work of Agnes Martin, the similarities between the practices are superficial. “There is no other way to produce the work except for a depth of engagement requiring the abandonment of self," she has explained, "and this process opens the door to infinity enabling reach outside the physical. For me art must transcend the material.” Born in 1937 in Hodgeman County, KS, she received her BFA from Fort Hays State University in Kansas and her MFA from the University of Arizona in Tucson. Influenced by the Suprematist works of Kazimir Malevich during the late 1950s, she began producing paintings which reflected on time with simple forms. The artist currently lives and works in Somerset, CA. Today, Cole’s works are held the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among others.

 

SELECTED SOLO SHOWS

 

2023

Max Cole: Breaking Day ,Charlotte Jackson Fine Art ,Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

2022

Max Cole: Endless Journey ,SITE Santa Fe ,Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

2021

Max Cole: The Bounding Circle ,Charlotte Jackson Fine Art ,Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

Max Cole: Six Paintings ,Larry Becker Contemporary Art ,Old City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

2018

Max Cole: Crosswinds ,Larry Becker Contemporary Art ,Old City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Max Cole: The Long View ,Charlotte Jackson Fine Art ,Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

2013

Max Cole: Salt Marsh, Pampas, Dog Star and Fourteen New Drawings ,Larry Becker Contemporary Art ,Old City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

2012

Max Cole: Beyond ,Charlotte Jackson Fine Art ,Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

2011

Max Cole: Terra Firma ,Haines Gallery ,Union Square, San Francisco, California, USA

2010

Max Cole & Katya Bonnenfant ,Haines Gallery ,Union Square, San Francisco, California, USA

Max Cole: Light and Line ,Larry Becker Contemporary Art ,Old City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

 

SELECTED GROUP SHOWS

 

2023

CrossWords, Osart Gallery, Milan

2022

Winter Rhapsody ,Charlotte Jackson Fine Art ,Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

Fall Crush ,Charlotte Jackson Fine Art ,Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

Dip in the Past ,Lenbachhaus ,Munich, Germany

[SOME] Small Paintings and Works on Paper ,Larry Becker Contemporary Art ,Old City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

2021

Balancing Act ,Charlotte Jackson Fine Art ,Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

2020

Follow the Line ,Charlotte Jackson Fine Art ,Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

2019

Between Them: An Installation Composed of Drawings ,Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco ,San Francisco, California, USA

2018

Great & Small ,Charlotte Jackson Fine Art ,Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

As Under The Evening Light ,Larry Becker Contemporary Art ,Old City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Evolver ,L.A. Louver Galleries ,Venice, Los Angeles, California, USA

2016

The Quilted Sky ,Charlotte Jackson Fine Art ,Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

2015

Group Exhibition: Color ,Charlotte Jackson Fine Art ,Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

Black Magic: Max Cole and Constance DeJong ,Charlotte Jackson Fine Art ,Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

Ornament, Reduction, Continuum ,Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein ,Vaduz, Liechtenstein

2013

System and Sensuality ,Kupferstichkabinett (Collection of Drawings & Prints) ,Tiergarten, Berlin, Germany

2011

Still Light ,Larry Becker Contemporary Art ,Old City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

2010

Array ([+] Prints) Tom Benson, Max Cole, Marcia Hafif, Robert Ryman and Others ,Larry Becker Contemporary Art ,Old City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

2008

FUNDAMENTAL ABSTRACTION II - In Memory of Kim Wauson ,Haines Gallery ,Union Square, San Francisco, California, USA