Max Snow interviewed by Abigail St. Clair Thomas about his new show.
“Please, Please, Please!”
The Fireplace Project
6/21/13 – 7/15/13
851 Springs Fireplace Road
East Hampton, NY 11937
Max Snow and his dog Gidget Photo Olivier Zahm
ASCT
What work do you have up currently?
MS
I am artist in residence at the Surf Lodge hotel in Montauk and have pieces hung throughout the hotel. I have a few pieces currently in a group show at Max Fish. The private dining room at The Lion and also Bills Steakhouse. And, of course, now at The Fireplace Project where I have a show opening tomorrow.
ASCT
What was the strongest motivation behind the series?
MS
BDSM.
ASCT
What is your favorite work in the collection and why?
MS
That’s a tough one. Of course I like them all. If I had to choose one piece it would be a small sculpture called Raised By Wolves, 2012.
ASCT
Do you find it difficult to come up with names for your collections?
MS
No. I always find inspiration in music and song lyrics.
ASCT
Do you have a favorite medium?
MS
I want to achieve certain things and different mediums become necessary to do that. Sometimes it involves mixing mediums, for example the screen prints painted over with oil paint.
ASCT
Are any re-occurring themes present in your work?
MS
Mythology, sensuality, death. Basically sex and death, that’s what everything is about.
ASCT
Where do you do your work?
MS
In my studio or on location, whether it’s in the desert of New Mexico or in the Forest de Fontainebleau in Paris.
ASCT
Are you haunted?
MS
Without a doubt but my Demons and I have made friends at this point.
ASCT
How has living in New York affected your work?
MS
New York is the most diverse city in the world. You can meet the Crow man, a drunken homeless man who acts like a crow and makes crow noises, and the Baroness Brandolini D’Ada all in one day.
ASCT
What is the most important thing in your studio?
MS
Tania.
ASCT
What’s the last thing you said in another language?
MS
Canta me puta.
ASCT
What do you keep beside your bed?
MS
Books.
ASCT
Favorite part of the body?
MS
A woman’s décolleté.
ASCT
Do you have a favorite memory from a past show?
MS
Wheat pasting posters of my father naked all over Amsterdam.
ASCT
What are you reading?
MS
Penthouse Letters.
ASCT
What is the worst part of being your lover?
MS
She can never get enough.
ASCT
What is the best part of being your friend?
MS
I’m really good at cheering people up. One time I was in Mexico with my dad and my sister and we were kinda bummed out about something, and I just put a tape of Johnny Dynamo in this little boom box that we’d bought, put on my dad’s super 80’s Ray Ban sunglasses and said “1985!” and my sister had to smile.
ASCT
What’s the first thing you see when you look in the mirror?
MS
Never look in the mirror when you’re on acid.
ASCT
How do you know when you’ve done enough?
MS
You just know.
For more information on Max Snow and his show, “Please, Please, Please”,
please contact The Fireplace Project