Max king cap

Never comfortable in the various roles he has assumed during his life, Max King Cap, now at ease, makes art about role-playing. A former firefighter, military school cadet, advertising copywriter, ward of the state, and seminarian, he was born in the geographical center of the United States, Castle Rock SD, on the day President Kennedy died. In his art he has often mused upon the roles he might play, like an actor considers a character. His loves of propaganda art and the plays of Shakespeare have led him to create the series of works, Dictators and Bardsmen. Educated at the University of Chicago, Max has traveled extensively, meeting his future wife in Berlin during the year that the wall was taken down. It is the background, though, of historical events that interests him, the bit players, the cast of thousands and their private dreams. He recalls as a small child playing at the Black Panther headquarters in Chicago, attending lectures on urban warfare and the effects of nerve gas on the human body. Most vividly he remembers the newspaper illustrations by Black Panther Minister of Culture, Emory Douglas; moved by their strident immediacy he decided to become an artist. He recalls the history of his familyπs trek to the far corners of the country, of a cowboy in Wyoming, a Negro League ball player in Kansas City, an FBI informant in Oakland, a longshoremen in New York, a draft dodger in Quebec, and a mercenary in Angola. The individual stories of these characters are a fascination to him, not just of his family but of all the families, all the bit players in the grander schemes that envelope us. HE is enamored with velvet Elvis paintings and the works of Hans Holbein the Elder, as well as the work of British painter Patrick Caulfield. New to Southern California Max is still adjusting to the long distances, the brush fires, mudslides, and earthquakes that longtime residents seem to take for granted, often joking with his wife, local curator Ciara Ennis, ≥Well, of course, the weather here has to be great. Otherwise who in their right mind would stay?≤ Max King Cap lives in Pomona and operates a small window exhibition space that shows the work of the Tropo Mfg collective and the works of other artists in solo and thematic group exhibitions. He met Fausto Herrera-Dominguez during the College Art Association conference in Philadelphia in 2002.