FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
“Gifted, ambitious and smart, Max Eisenstein is one of a number of young painters seeking to restore urgency to the act of painting. I am going to watch him and see what happens.”

– Chuck Close, 2004

Fresh off a move from New York City to Los Angeles, painter Max Eisenstein will debut his artwork at the Kantor Gallery on October 23rd.

Eisenstein’s show, “people & flowers” is his first exhibition anywhere, and has been much anticipated following his spread in the October 2004 issue of W Magazine. The show will include paintings and drawings executed both in New York and since he has moved to Los Angeles.

Born and raised in Manhattan, Eisenstein attended Stuyvesant High School before moving west to study at Washington University in St. Louis. Upon receiving his BFA in painting and BA in intellectual history, he spent six months in Madrid before returning home to New York City. Over the next two years, he worked as an artist assistant to both Chuck Close and Cecily Brown.

Eisenstein then decided to take what he had learned from his mentors and step out on his own. His style combines formal drawing and painting techniques with his background in graffiti. Engaging classical modes such as portraits and flower painting allows his work the candor to be considered only by what is present on the canvas.

“My paintings are about developing my own logical framework, or rather a gloriously illogical, irreconcilable, stupid, genius, derivative, original, profoundly personal, awesomely fruitless pursuit that will sustain me as long as I live. One in which I am my own champion, my most malicious foe; the one willing to stab me in the back and then dress my wounds. Ultimately there is no more or less of an explanation for the root of the desire to paint than there is for the origin of one’s breath; but whereas breathing is required for living, painting is the luxury of being alive.”

Max Eisenstein will be exhibiting his artwork at the Kantor Gallery with an opening reception on Saturday October 23rd from 6:00 to 9:30 pm. Exhibit will run through November 27th.